Public hotspots provide an easy method for customers to connect to the Internet. With the increasing number of people emailing, chatting, shopping, uploading and downloading files, surfing the web, and playing games across the Internet, wireless network access is an attractive draw for customers and could potentially lead them to choose one place of business over another. Business travelers can work from their hotel rooms, and special events staff can update schedules, locations, results, and specialized content to their customers without installing kiosks and having lines queued up waiting for a terminal to become available. Employees can work from a local coffee shop while enjoying a caf latte or cup of tea. These benefits offer a revenue opportunity for both the service provider and the owner of the site.
Functionally, a public hotspot is a readily available wireless network connection where users withcompatible wireless network devices such as PDAs, cell phones, notebook computers, or handheldgames can connect to the Internet, send and receive email, and download files all without beingencumbered by Ethernet cables. The hotspot can be temporary or permanent in nature: a trade showthat runs over 3 days or at a local coffee shop, respectively, but should always mimic the user'snative environment with respect to functionality and security. In other words, the hotspot should beinvisible to the user in every respect, other than making the initial connection to the network.
A hotspot is made up of some or all of the following components:
- Mobile Station(s)
- Access Point(s)
- Switches, Routers, Network Access Controller
- Web Server
- Authorization, Authentication and Accounting (AAA) Server
- High-speed Internet connection such as DSL or T1/T3 (WAN backhaul)
- Internet Service Provider (ISP)
- Wireless ISP
Some important features and functionality that a hotspot needs to provide are listed below:
- Enabling access to the wireless link - Providing the mobile station with information about the wireless network - Creating an association with the mobile station - Providing access to the local network - Providing data packet transfer services - Disassociation from the mobile station
- Provisioning the hotspot - Page redirection function - Mobile station authentication - User authorization
- Layer 3 (IP) Address Management - Providing an IP address for the mobile device - Private to public address translation if necessary - Providing Domain Name Services (DNS) - Providing information about gateways
- Providing access to hotspot LAN
- Providing access to the WAN
- Protecting user data privacy
- Provide accounting information (keep track of user network usage)
Some of these functions are provided by a single hotspot network component while others are implemented through the collaboration or combination of two or more components.
Wireless hotspot network architecture
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