Google has announced a new platform from its internal hub called Orion Wifi for the Area 120 experimental project. With Orion Wifi, places like supermarkets, grocery stores and stadiums can sell Wi-Fi capacity to mobile operators, and users can then automatically switch to Wi-Fi when available.
Google announces Orion Wifi to increase mobile coverage
Those of us who already use public Wi-Fi may wonder what the purpose of this tool is; there are two. One is that Orion Wifi is perfect for facilities that want to make money from their Wi-Fi revenues, which will help businesses recover from the current COVID 19 pandemic. The other reason is that it’s easier to connect to Orion Wifi than public Wi-Fi.
According to Google, Orion Wifi only connects you to the network if you have a good connection; on the other hand, most phones automatically connect to the frequently visited public network, even if the connection is poor. As for security, Google says that when you connect to Orion Wifi, you don’t see the user’s Internet traffic, which is useful for privacy and security.
As of today, Google has made Orion available for use in public places in the United States. There are no costs or obligations, it says. Interested institutions should visit the Orion Wifi website.
Google Fi and Republic Wireless will be the first to offer this new technology, but it could be expanded later as it becomes more popular.
Google is working with Wi-Fi manufacturers to ensure their hardware is compatible and with the Wireless Broadband Alliance on the emerging OpenRoaming standard to do with it to make Wi-Fi roaming even more powerful. It’s too early to say, but while new Wifi service may be a blessing for businesses, those who rely on public Wi-Fi may fail if more venues switch to Orion Wifi, which requires you to become a customer of the operator.