WiFi Monetization Archives

With the COVID-19 pandemic, we are facing an unprecedented situation on a global level. Countries are in lockdown, and people everywhere are being asked to stop or minimize their social physical interactions. Our broadband connections are becoming our lifelines. We are using them to get news, connect to our office work, and for entertainment too.

Working from home during lockdown means guzzling of internet data more than what we usually do. Sometimes this means hitting the FUP limits before the month ends and sometimes working at a slow internet speed due to several devices connected to a single network.

Due to affordable data availability on cellular networks, wired broadband in India was stagnant for some time. But this trend has changed drastically due to the coronavirus outbreak that has locked the lives of many people around the world. Now, fixed broadband has a great opportunity to expand in India as they provide steady link and speed. Covid-19 has forced people to work from home and this has become the new normal. Also with too much pressure on wireless networks, professionals working from home have to use Wi-Fi for consistency of speed and internet.

India has 19 million fixed line broadband users which include enterprises and offices and 17 million home fixed line broadband users.

ISPs are seeing an increased demand for new connections across various. Some ISPs have also introduced a promotional standalone Broadband plan for free of cost to all the existing customers. Others are offering one month free trials for all new customers helping them to keep business as usual during COVID 19 precautions. Currently, plan upgrade is ongoing across service providers as people need even faster speeds and to complete their operations from home.

Though, all ISPs and telecom operators these days are working hard to provide adequate Internet access to their customers. Many of them have also brought various upgrades to their existing systems to keep the Internet up and running for the masses in the country. Service providers need to ensure that their internet infrastructures are up to these new tasks – with enough capacity and ability to deliver all services with high performance under the increased traffic demand.

Service providers need an integrated O/BSS suite that can enable them to rapidly launch of new revenue services without spending countless hours in endless integration. They need tools for subscriber centric operations & billing platform that allows service providers to rapidly deliver volume metered, differential bandwidth services based on subscriber identity, traffic flow, location & time of access. A new generation O/BSS suite such as Inventum UNIFY™ can help broadband providers to rapidly deliver personalized & differentiated revenue generating services. ISPs can integrate various modules (Reseller Mobile App, Self-care Mobile App and salesforce automation) as they grow.

*UNIFY Subscriber & Service Management Suit*

Today’s heterogeneous broadband networks require a multi personality AAA solution that can address all forms of access networks. Inventum’s AAA solution supports both IETF & 3GPP standards within the same server, including protocol translations which save both integration & capital costs.

At the same time service providers need multi gigabit routers for bandwidth management, firewall & IP filtering, lawful logging, and QoS etc. Inventum offers a range of multi gigabit Integrated Services Routers suitable for service providers. They can play multiple roles in a network. Deploy for gateway connections or enable the BNG module for subscriber & service aggregation. Other modules include WAG, and DPI.

With the advent of software defined networking (SDN) many functions of the modern enterprise are being virtualised to save cost and vendor lock-in. Inventum’s VSR is a virtual router that can replace any hardware router. The VSR software automatically detects the PC hardware and sets it up to function as a router.

The lessons we are learning and the challenges we are facing will forever change the way we work, communicate, and entertain. Mobile service providers are increasingly using Wi-Fi hotspots to decongest their mobile network traffic. Mobile data offload is allowing telecom operators to seamlessly acquire and move mobile traffic to the Wi-Fi network while retaining policy and charging control. Inventum offers products & solutions for both trusted (3GPP release 8) and untrusted (3GPP release 6) mobile offload projects.

Despite low mobile data prices, customers are turning to Wi-Fi for better and much improved experiences. This has also carved a niche market for managed Wi-Fi services. Managed Wi-Fi solutions and services play a key role in better managing the user’s access and the entire lifecycle of WLAN right from designing to installing wireless systems including proactive network and infrastructure management. Adoption of cloud based Wi-Fi services is the future.

ISPs/WISPs can use Inventum’s Udaya brand of Wi-Fi 5 products that offer a fully cloud managed experience for offices and premium homes, allowing customers to use a mobile app and control everything about their Wi-Fi experience.

100% cloud hosted
Monetize your Wi-Fi
Awesome Analytics

So how will you deal with growing internet demand at homes during this period? We can provide you the wireless equipment, the backend software systems, lawful interception systems, security systems and routers that are all made by us; but more importantly, we can also install and operate the entire network for you.

Connect Your Students to the World!

The concept of online learning and self-teaching has been widely adopted. With the rising popularity of online courses, students now expect to be able to connect to their educational resources at anytime, anywhere. From online live lectures and webinars to e-Books and other online resources, it’s clear that the Internet has become a powerful teaching tool in education.

Wi-Fi connectivity helps in seamless teaching and learning. The role of wireless campus for the enhancement of teaching learning process is vast. With Wi-Fi access throughout the campus, information is just a click away. The wireless campus also supports everyday activities seamlessly in classroom contexts.

Universities & colleges need a flexible, cost-effective and future-proof network infrastructure that enables students and staff to connect with ease and throughout the whole campus.

Key Challenges in a Campus

Nowadays, institutions compete for students, and campus experience plays a large part in the decision-making process for prospective undergraduates and postgraduates students. Students demand high-quality, reliable Wi-Fi experiences not only in the classroom but also during free time when they’re streaming Netflix, YouTube etc. or accessing online resources. More and more, potential and current students judge the quality of a university by its wireless network, and an under performing Wi-Fi network can impact the institution’s bottom line.

For university CIOs and their IT staff, the design and upkeep of campus Wi-Fi networks was once a moderately straightforward undertaking. Today, however, situation is totally different. Campuses are now facing key challenges:

I. A larger user base is trying to connect

There are masses of users (students, Faculty members & guests) trying to connect to College Wi-Fi and most of them have at least two devices that they want to connect. With demands like that across campuses, colleges need to take steps to ensure that students are able to access what they need for education and entertainment.

If your institution isn’t accounting for this vast user base and its ramifications in terms of bandwidth, coverage and security, you can bet that students and staff are experiencing problems with your network.

II. Bandwidth management

One of the biggest challenges that most campuses deal with are issues surrounding bandwidth. Some users consume all the bandwidth and other are left with no connection or poor connectivity. In order to keep up with your users expectations & demands, location based access restrictions for students and other similar policy controls are some of the controls that campuses need.

III. Accountability & Content Filtering

Complying with local laws and ensuring objectionable content is blocked is a key requirement of campus networks. There are today thousands of websites linked with terror networks and cybercrime which may adversely impact the student community. With growing security concerns, particularly from unverified visitors in public hotspots, most campus owners are looking for ways to track the network activity of Wi-Fi users. Having logs to investigate cybercrimes is critical for any public hotspot.

IV. BYOD Brings Increased Demand and Challenges

The fact is BYOD puts a heavy strain on a campus’ bandwidth, and dealing with the issue requires more than simply telling users to limit their usage. Does your wireless networking infrastructure enable your IT professionals to have a high level of application visibility and control? Have you developed policies to prioritize different applications and devices accessing the network? If the answer is no, this is a pretty big indicator that your campus Wi-Fi network may be failing and you need to take action now.

V. Your Network Is Unsecure

There’s no room for error when it comes to protecting student and staff information, so it’s crucial to ensure that your campus Wi-Fi network is protected from cyber threats like ransomware and other dangerous intrusions. Securing your wireless network must be a top priority when you’re dealing with hundreds to thousands of users connecting through multiple devices at every moment of the day. If you’re allowing guests to connect to the main network and you’re not ensuring robust protection against intrusions, your campus Wi-Fi network is failing.

VI. Monetize

Campuses often act as an ISP providing paid broadband services to on campus student housing and usage limited monthly plans. Managing the recurrent billing and collection of such services is a key challenge to monetization of services.

VII. Portal & Dashboard

Users also need a Self-service tools to check their network activity, view usage, pay bills and change network passwords.

Inventum’s offering allows your campus to benefit from fast, reliable Internet service. Now, institutions can flexibly connect staff and students with ease, while enjoying peace of mind that access is secure and controlled.

Bandwidth Management — **Inventum All-in-one solution for hotspots**

Inventum’s MSG gateways offer a single-stop solution for campus networks. The all-in-one appliance combines the functions of a router, firewall, NAC, user directory & more in a ready-to-deploy solution. Administrators can directly connect WAN & LAN links to the appliance for end-to-end operations & management of their Wi-Fi networks.

It also offers a built in portal and self care system. All new customers are redirected to a login page where they can first register using forms or a simple mobile number with OTP verification code. Prepay PIN, scratch card, Internet plan purchase using credit card or roaming from aggregators such as iPass are all supported. Returning customers are seamlessly recognised with zero touch access.

It can also set a speed limit per student, limit download volume and ensure fair bandwidth distribution. Built-in firewall secures the network, filtering content and keeping browsing logs for legal compliance.

For end point connectivity, Institutions can also use Inventum’s udaya series of products which are all managed centrally from a public cloud including configuration, monitoring, captive portals, SMS sign-on, payment gateway interfaces and analytics.

Campuses with multiple locations can consider our zero capex cloud solution to get started immediately. The offering includes virtual routers as part of the subscription allowing any server on campus to be used as a gateway router for the hotspot(s). All other elements are managed via the UNIFY™ Cloud platform with no additional on-site hardware required. All you need are Wi-Fi access points to get started!

Key Benefits

Easy setup & management
Easily scalable
Excellent price-to-performance value
Many Models to Choose From

Tag: WiFi Monetization

Lockdown is painful but may be ISP’s best chance to capture the market