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Smart Cities Are On the EDGE of Seamless Connectivity

In 2018, the City of Clermont, Florida began planning to implement a city-wide public WiFi network. City officials had decided that a public WiFi network was a great value for residents and visitors – but also needed a way to offset the implementation costs. Clermont partnered with Aerohive Networks, vTech io, and GoZone WiFi to deploy a city-wide Smart WiFi network.

Cities worldwide are upgrading systems and making the city of the future a reality today. Smart cities enhance the quality of life for residents, tourists, and businesses by integrating complex network systems — eco-friendly waste management, sensors that monitor vehicle and pedestrian traffic, events to promote local businesses, and solar-powered infrastructure. An integrated WiFi structure is critical to connecting systems from digital signage to smart lighting to visitor connectivity.

Smart Cities Gain New Insights and Opportunities

Presence analytics offers a city new information on how people navigate through physical spaces, busy days and times, and how long people dwell in high-traffic areas.  

Real-time WiFi analytics have the potential to make improvements in areas across the city. With access to traffic heat maps, urban planners can more effectively strategize upgrades in traffic systems and plan public transportation upgrades. City managers can more accurately forecast turnout for public events and prepare for heavy tourism. The best decisions are powered by data.

Today, Clermont uses the WiFi network to promote city-wide events and local businesses and monetize infrastructure investments through a WiFi advertising platform.  

WiFi Provides Seamless Connectivity to All Users

Residents in local areas and tourists alike demand consistent access to the internet. Often in congested cities, LTE or mobile networks are not accessible due to high usage. Tourists – specifically international tourists – will most likely visit cities that offer access to safe, secure public WiFi.

A city-wide Smart WiFi system provides users with a simple and secure way to connect to the internet. Gone are the days of obtrusive WiFi passwords and worry over public WiFi.

Read More: WiFi Makes Communities Smarter, Safer and More Accessible

Smart Cities Boost Economic Development

The EDGE District, a downtown district in St. Petersburg, Florida, began working on a plan to create a district-wide WiFi network in October 2018. The goal of the EDGE WiFi network is to provide seamless WiFi connectivity as residents and visitors move through the vibrant downtown district, as well as promote and connect local businesses. The EDGE non-profit organization benefits by promoting district businesses and gaining a deeper understanding of its residents and visitors.  

Community economic development is a proven approach to achieving growth by soliciting local involvement to build stronger communities, industries, and markets. Connecting city officials with residents and stakeholders has proven benefits related to the socioeconomic well-being of communities.

City-wide Smart WiFi unlocks marketing and communication tools to further social involvement opportunities for residents. As residents log in to the public WiFi network, the smart city can promote upcoming committee meetings, events, and surveys. This is done through a customized guest flow. Imagine the ability to survey residents monthly, weekly, or even daily through a one-to-one engagement and analyze the results to drive meaningful change. Smart WiFi can be used to build additional trust and engagement within the community.

WiFi Monetization Offsets Infrastructure Costs

As WiFi 6 nears and demands new infrastructure, smart cities face increasing network investment costs. WiFi advertising can offset these costs and provide additional ROI on a city’s WiFi network. Local and corporate sponsors are looking for more digital, trackable ways to engage with customers. Additionally, cities need to subsidize operational costs. It’s a win-win.

Clermont is working with local businesses to create a WiFi advertising network to continue to monetize the public WiFi network. This allows Clermont to continue to offset the costs of its WiFi infrastructure. Meanwhile also promoting local businesses to city residents and visitors.

Smart WiFi advertising lets advertisers update creative in real-time and track impressions and click-thru rates (CTRs). As these businesses buy advertising space generated on the splash page, landing page, and automated emails, the city continues to monetize their WiFi network.

Read More: Connected Communities are the Now

When the EDGE District project began, GoZone —  conveniently headquartered within the EDGE District — was able to find a solution to district-wide Smart WiFi through a sponsorship and host model. Through partnerships with local coffee shops, retail boutiques, fitness centers, and restaurants, residents and visitors can access secure public WiFi throughout the district. Participating businesses gain access to valuable marketing data and branding during the WiFi login process.  

Sponsors are taking advantage of the advertising opportunities GoZone’s Ads4WiFi platform provides. Local businesses display ads on the guest flow, landing page, and in subsequent emails, and offset network costs. Sponsors are excited about the ability to reach the active and involved EDGE community in a trackable, affordable way.    

And EDGE is leading the transforming for St. Petersburg into a smarter city, one access point at a time.

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Coupons

Unlock new revenue streams with Smart WiFi’s automated coupon campaigns—create unlimited, customized offers that are instantly delivered to your guests via email or SMS when they connect to your WiFi. Effortlessly boost engagement and drive repeat business, while tracking every redemption to see real results for your venue.

Splash Page Scheduler

Take control of your guest experience with our Splash Page Scheduler! Effortlessly plan and customize splash pages for any day or special event—whether it’s a weekly promotion or a one-time announcement. With flexible scheduling, you’ll always deliver the perfect message to your guests, exactly when it matters most.

How Does OpenRoaming Work?

OpenRoaming is a groundbreaking framework designed to provide seamless and secure Wi-Fi connectivity across multiple networks without the need for users to repeatedly log in or manage credentials. This simplifies user experiences while enhancing security and interoperability. Here’s how OpenRoaming operates:

  1. Automatic Device Authentication: OpenRoaming enables devices to automatically authenticate to participating networks using trusted identity providers, such as service providers, educational institutions, or enterprise systems.
  2. Federated Trust Framework: It leverages a global federation of identity providers and access networks. This ensures secure communication between the user’s device and the Wi-Fi network, allowing for trusted and seamless connections.
  3. Encryption and Security: OpenRoaming employs advanced encryption protocols to ensure secure data transmission and user privacy.
  4. Seamless Handover: When moving between participating networks, OpenRoaming allows for uninterrupted connectivity without requiring users to re-authenticate or reconnect manually.
  5. Standardized Deployment: Networks participating in OpenRoaming adopt a consistent framework, ensuring compatibility and ease of deployment across diverse environments.

Advantages of OpenRoaming

  • Effortless Connectivity: OpenRoaming eliminates the need for repeated logins or managing passwords, delivering a frictionless experience for users.
  • Improved Security: By using identity federation and encryption, OpenRoaming ensures user data is secure, reducing risks associated with public Wi-Fi networks.
  • Global Interoperability: OpenRoaming’s federated framework allows users to connect seamlessly across a vast ecosystem of participating networks, enhancing mobility and convenience.
  • Enhanced User Retention: Businesses benefit from providing an uninterrupted user experience, encouraging longer visits and repeat engagements.

Challenges with OpenRoaming

  • Initial Setup Requirements: Participating networks must implement the OpenRoaming framework, which may involve technical setup and coordination with identity providers.
  • Network Participation: OpenRoaming’s effectiveness depends on widespread adoption by networks and identity providers, limiting availability in areas where participation is low.
  • Compliance and Maintenance: Ensuring compliance with OpenRoaming standards and maintaining infrastructure can require ongoing effort and investment.

OpenRoaming for Businesses

 Businesses that adopt OpenRoaming, which allows guests to connect automatically, gain a competitive advantage by providing a secure and effortless Wi-Fi experience for customers. From improving customer satisfaction to creating opportunities for engagement and loyalty, OpenRoaming transforms Wi-Fi connectivity into a strategic asset. By joining the OpenRoaming ecosystem, businesses can become part of a global network that keeps users connected wherever they go.

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How Does CAPPORT Work?

CAPPORT (Captive Portal API) streamlines the process of connecting users to Wi-Fi networks by creating a seamless and user-friendly experience. When a user accesses a CAPPORT-enabled network, they are guided through an efficient flow for authentication and internet access:

  1. Connection Initiation: The user’s device requests internet access when attempting to connect to the network.
  2. DHCP and CAPPORT State Interaction:
    • The device communicates with the DHCP server to obtain an IP address.
    • Along with the IP, the DHCP server provides a URL to the CAPPORT State endpoint.
    • The device queries the endpoint to determine whether it needs redirection to a captive portal.
  3. Captive Portal Engagement: If required, the user is redirected to the portal, where they can complete actions such as accepting terms, entering login credentials, or providing other validation.
  4. Authentication and Access: Upon successful validation, the network grants the user internet access, and redirection ceases for the duration of the session.
  5. Browsing and Session Extension: Users can browse without interruption. CAPPORT also supports seamless session extensions, allowing users to extend their session without re-authentication.

 

This standardized process ensures a smooth connection and consistent user experience across networks and devices..

Advantages of CAPPORT

  • Standardized Connectivity: CAPPORT ensures uniform communication protocols, delivering consistent network behavior and enhancing the user experience.
  • Improved Browsing Experience: Avoids common HTTPS redirection issues, reducing errors and streamlining the login process.
  • Seamless Session Management: Enables session extensions without re-login, ensuring uninterrupted connectivity for users.

Challenges with CAPPORT

  • Implementation Complexity: Setting up CAPPORT requires a robust network infrastructure, which may challenge businesses lacking technical expertise.
  • Local DHCP Server Requirement: CAPPORT relies on a local DHCP server with an API, necessitating specific configurations and potential cost considerations.
  • Device Compatibility: As of 2023, CAPPORT support is not universal, limiting functionality on some devices.

By addressing these challenges, businesses can leverage CAPPORT to enhance connectivity, improve user experiences, and create opportunities for Wi-Fi monetization and marketing.

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Smart WiFi Suite Enterprise Feature Matrix

  • Enterprise-grade cloud infrastructure
    Scaleable platforms on the Amazon AWS cloud provides carrier-grade uptime.
  • Multi-Location Data Views
    An aggregated view of your data giving you visibility to all of your locations or drill-down to specific locations.
  • User Access Control
    Allows your administrator to control and limit access, features and data visibility among users.
  • Advanced Captive Portal Engine
    A complete toolset to design and build dynamic captive portals, guest flows and custom privacy controls. Includes our Touchless Menu features.
  • Guest Forms, Vouchers and Payments
    Collect guest data, surveys, on-line or offline payments and offer different access levels.
  • Customized login methods
    Choose how guests are able to access your network including social login, emails and SMS login, advertisements or a combination.
  • Data Export
    Full guest profile export to CSV allowing you to use collected data in third party systems.
  • Detailed Location Data Analytics
    Analyse detailed information about your locations like busy days, busy times and location comparisons.
  • Demographics and Device Information
    Make informed decisions based on detailed demographics and perform location comparisons.
  • Data Sync to other systems/API
    Save time populating other systems as guest profile data can be sent to external systems on timed intervals.
  • Triggered Campaigns
    Engage with your guests without the manual work by creating personalized email, SMS or Twitter campaigns.
  • Coupons and Loyalty
    Increase spend and promote repeat visits by creating incentives for guests or their friends to come back.
  • Import external data
    Bring in contact data from other systems to consolidate your marketing efforts into a single comprehensive platform.
  • Contact segmenting and lists
    Build contact groups to send personalized messages to your guests based on automatic segmentation and your own critera.
  • Scheduled Campaigns
    Communicate with your contacts to drive awareness through email, SMS or Twitter.
  • Traffic Counts and Statistics
    Monitor your venue and events with real-time and recorded traffic counts and patterning.
  • Heatmapping and Traffic Flows
    Visualize crowd density and how people flow in, out and through your venue to see where people congegrate.
  • Alerting and Reporting
    Create automated alerts to help control crowds or to monitor abnormal trends.
  • Intelligent Landing Page Builder
    Simple to create pages that support multiple campaign types and can easily be modified and re-purposed for other venues or events.
  • Campaign Management Tools
    Offer your advertisers options to suit their advertising needs such as A/B testing, ad weights, flexible scheduling and more.
  • Reporting and Attribution
    Analyse detailed information about the campaigns and creatives to get the best campaign targeting.

  • Access


  • Insights


  • Automation


  • Contacts


  • Presence


  • Advertising

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Custom Splash Page Builder

A custom splash page helps give a captive portal the branded look it needs to stand out from the crowd and give guests the peace of mind they’re accessing the network associated with the venue they’re visiting.
  • User friendly drag-and-drop builder
  • Social login options
  • Custom form builder
  • Built-in templates
  • Personalized merge codes
  • Supports custom HTML

WiFi Payments and Vouchers

Offer premium guest WiFi access and promote WiFi upgrades with comprehensive payment and voucher modules. Payments can be used to offer guests varying speeds of WiFi access, while vouchers are great for venues that want to utilize a captive portal that also requires a voucher code for WiFi access.
WiFi payments and vouchers

Guest Plans

Venues can now offer multiple levels of guest WiFi access with our Guest Plan feature. Guest Plans are defined by specific upload and download speeds and session time limits. Brick-and-mortar businesses can offer guest WiFi access and promote WiFi upgrades with our new payment and voucher modules.
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Versatile Form Builder

  • Learn more about guests
  • Receive feedback and reviews
  • Know what new products to implement
  • Verify email addresses
  • Gain more insight on marketing opportunities

Create and display custom guest surveys on any splash page of your guest flow. Collect feedback and gather additional data points to create smarter marketing.

Enhanced Guest Flow

Guest flow gives venues complete control over the guest WiFi experience. Guest flows help keep a visually pleasing captive portal experience by preventing clutter of multiple marketing assets. Keep it simple, or turn your WiFi into a digital billboard.
WiFi splash page with survey social login

Integrated Ad Spaces

Ad Space Integrations is a powerful feature for venues who want to promote products, deals and specials, online shopping, loyalty programs and other signups, or third-party advertisers all on a pre-authenticated Splash Page.

Increase impressions and clicks for advertising opportunities by showcasing AdSpaces before requiring a guest to connect to WiFi.

Have an app that needs more downloads? The URL redirect function will navigate guests to the app store specific to their device as soon as they click on the advertisement/call-to-action button.

No more will guests have to wait to connect to WiFi to reach interactive ads. Ad Space Integrations takes Ads4WiFi smart advertising tools and places it our smart marketing environment powered by Marketing4WiFi.

Hotspot Scheduler

Determine the specific days and times that WiFi is available to guests. Hotspot Scheduler offers smarter WiFi control by allowing venues to run their guest WiFi during business hours.