Free, public Wi-Fi networks covering are useful to both residents and tourists and are designed to make the city experience more enjoyable. While it is great to have easy access to Wi-Fi everywhere, there are major issues with seamless connectivity and security.
Connecting in most hotspot environments is cumbersome. When you visit a café or shopping centre, you’ll need to turn on your smart phone or tablet, go to settings, find the Wi-Fi settings, look through the list of available Wi-Fi networks, select the one to use, and  manually enter your username and password to log in.
Public Wi-Fi is wide open and prone to wireless hackers. Without protection from a virtual private network, the data on your wireless devices are vulnerable to criminals.
Using a Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Passpoint mobile device and hotspot changes that. The Wi-Fi Alliance is evolving the Wi-Fi hotspot experience and said:

“Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Passpoint® will transform the way users connect to Wi-Fi hotspot networks by making the process of finding and getting access to the right network seamless. It also provides user connections with WPA2® security protection, enabling you to feel confident that your data is safe. Mobile devices that are certified for Passpoint, such as handsets and tablets, can still be used in existing hotspots. However, when you are in a Passpoint-enabled hotspot, you’ll discover a newly smooth connectivity experience.”

Getting more value from Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Passpoint is a certification mark from the Wi-Fi Alliance that aims to streamline the network process and enables your mobile device to connect to local hotspots automatically. It just connects without you having to do anything. In short, it cuts out all the hassle.
Passpoint works like the network of cell phone towers. As you drive down the freeway, for example, your phone’s signal is handed off from one tower to the next. Passpoint works the same way, allowing your mobile device to jump from one hotspot to the next. It allows you to sign up once, and then passes along your credentials for each of the hot spots the network supports, storing and automatically logging onto Wi-Fi hotspots you have previously accessed.

Features of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Passpoint® 1

Here are the new features of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Passpoint® 1 according to the Wi-Fi Alliance:
Online sign-up – Passpoint enables a streamlined process to establish a new user account at the point of access. This reduces barriers to account creation and usage for service providers and removes the complexity of getting connected for users.
Secure registration – The process of establishing a new account or connecting a second device takes place securely. Users can be confident they are connecting to their chosen provider’s valid network and their credentials are exchanged securely.
Operator policy – Passpoint now includes the capability for service providers to distribute their specific subscriber policies. This enables providers to deliver the best user experience on Wi-Fi, while still maintaining the business requirements of Wi-Fi roaming agreements.
Stay tuned to learn more useful tips on how to get the best possible connection at home. To get the best Internet plans for your home, you can visit our Plan Guru or call  13 22 88 to speak to our 100% Australian advice specialists.