Devicescape Can Now Offload iPhone From 4G To Wi-Fi Automatically

Steve McCaskill,
mobile workforce

Devicescape says operator partners, including Virgin Media, can now offload 95 percent of customers from 3G or 4G to its network of Wi-Fi hotspots.

Devicescape’s operator partners, including Virgin Media in the UK, can now offload iPhone and iPad users from their networks and onto the former’s curated virtual network (CVN) following an update to Apple’s iOS APIs.

The feature has been enabled on Android handsets for some time, but until now iOS users had to manually connect to hotspots on the CVN, which comprises 20 million access points – including 215,000 in the UK.

But now, operators can move customers between cellular and wireless infrastructure seamlessly if it believes the latter will offer a better signal. This should improve coverage for the user and ease strain on 3G and 4G networks in areas of high demand. With iOS now supported, Devicescape claims the service works with 95 percent of all smartphones

Devicescape iOS

telecoms“Apple is renowned for its focus on the user experience, so we are thrilled to have been granted access to APIs which let us enhance the underlying connectivity of that experience even further,” said Dave Fraser, CEO of Devicescape. “Our customers have long made clear the demand for an iOS version of our client and we look forward to working with them to deploy it to their users as soon as possible.

“Operators quite rightly want to offer the same quality of experience to all of their customers, irrespective of those customers’ preferences in terms of operating system,” Fraser continued. “With our new iOS client operators can now target more than 95 per cent of the smartphone market with greatly expanded and improved connectivity.”

The CVN comprises more than 20 million hotspots, including 215,000 in the UK, which meet Devicescape’s quality tests. Whenever Devicescape detects a new hotspot, it is assessed for quality of experience, availability and seamless authentication. If the access point meets Devicescape’s standards, it is added to the CVN.

Earlier this year, all 20 million hotspots in the CVN were added to iPass’ network of curated hotspots, which are used by business customers to reduce roaming costs and simplify the process of logging into public Wi-Fi.

Are you acquainted with Wi-Fi ? Try our quiz!