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The level of requirement in terms of reliability and
performance of territorial WiFi is also increasing. It remains complementary to
the mobile network, as the Banque des Territoires (formerly Caisse des Dépôts)
underlines in its guide to territorial WiFi, roaming cannot replace a WiFi
network to offer real connectivity to foreign users or those far from any area.
quality mobile coverage. It also makes it possible to desaturate the mobile
network in areas with high traffic.
What is territorial WiFi?
The territorial
WiFi is a wireless unified within a
territory: the user connects via a captive portal, and all deployed terminals
provide coverage where the user does not need to reconnect each time
(connection seamless).
What are the advantages of territorial WiFi?
Territorial WiFi is an important factor of attractiveness of
a territory which allows:
To provide
broadband coverage, in particular for:
- Tourists outside the European Union;
- Areas far from quality mobile coverage;
- Areas with high traffic of users who are experiencing a saturation of the mobile network (events, tourist places, stations, etc.)
Provide
continuity of service through the captive portal that allows seamless
connection;
For the
community, to have a channel with hyper local information adapted and
personalized;
Have a
better understanding of urban flows (in particular to understand commuting in a
territory, etc.).
Transfer
the legal constraints (law relating to information of 2015) for private tourist
places thanks to an surbox which makes it possible to unify the territorial
wifi network on the territory;
Promote diversified uses, in particular the collection of data from connected objects
Beyond the services offered to users, territorial WiFi
provides the community with an additional tool to analyze the territory:
Tourism:
flows, tourist routes, typology of users;
Cross-referencing
of flow data and user typology with additional data;
Better understanding of users' interests to direct them to personalized offers to strengthen the attractiveness of the territory
What are the characteristics of a territorial WiFi
network?
Territorial WiFi corresponds to the deployment of network access points in the territory, mainly in places of passage,
but it is not limited to these aspects.
In order to become an easy-to-use and attractive commodity,
such a network could:
Offer a
connection portal common to all and adapted to tourism (captive portal). This
portal only requires single sign-on and allows automatic reconnection to the
network once nearby. After logging in, the user would be forwarded to a “ community ” web page . This would aim to
highlight local activities and would have the main purpose of facilitating the
user's stay.
Be deployed
in private tourist locations (restaurants, hotels, campsites, etc.) by
integrating existing networks through an surbox . This would make it possible
to manage the networks in a decentralized manner, once the network is
integrated, it would appear under the same name (SSID) and with the same
captive portal as the rest of the territorial WiFi.
Offer a
physical and digital communication device to promote the service and
indicate access points .
Operate in
a unified manner across all sites and access points. The super administrator (the community / its
partner) would manage the connection and authentication parameters in real time
over the entire network.
Easily
integrate devices using partner networks (roaming agreements with mobile operators ).
Allow the management of databases in order to enhance and exploit the data collected.
How are the costs of such a network structured?
One of the first steps is to target priority sites for
setting up access points, which will then make it possible to model a deployment scenario . The access points can
be deployed in public spaces or in partner private places (integration of the
existing wifi thanks to an surbox). These access points can be indoor, outdoor
or integrated into street furniture.
Overall, the establishment of a territorial wifi network
responds to a cost structure in 3 phases:
Study and
design costs ;
Installation
and integration cost : the deployment in each zone of several connected access
points will make it possible to deploy the infrastructure on a shared network ; in particular the
centralization of connection , firewall and software management (captive
portal, advertising, etc.) in a data
center (Central switch, Wireless LAN
Controller, VLAN, etc.);
Operation
and maintenance cost