Frameworks
The SDKs provide a few basic methods that ultimately allow provisioning the user device with a WiFi profile. There are two main steps to provision a WiFi profile using the SDK:
Initialize a User
A User must be created on the Cloud4Wi systems before creating and installing a WiFi Profile.
Users can be initialized with attributes and identifiers that allow the reconciliation of the user data with external systems, including CRMs, CDPs, and marketing automation tools. This includes email address, phone number, or any external identifiers known to the mobile app.
It is also possible to assign to the user a specific internet policy previously created in the Cloud4Wi account (this, for example, may be used to differentiate WiFi bandwidth based on membership level).
Cloud4Wi generates random network credentials associated with the user, used to generate either Passpoint or WPA2 Enterprise Wireless Profiles.
Install the WiFi Profile
WiFi Profiles are configuration files, specific to each operative system, that allow a device to connect and authenticate on a WiFi network. The method to install the WiFi Profile takes as input the network credentials generated in the previous step.
When the method to install the WiFi Profile is invoked, the Operative System prompts an alert to the user to ask for permission/confirmation (see user experience).
Cloud4Wi SDK provides two types of authentication methods:
WPA2 Enterprise
WPA2 Enterprise is a standard protocol that allows devices to connect securely to a certain network identified by an SSID. These profiles are specific to the name of the SSID, which must be known before initializing and installing the profile. If the SSID on the network changes, the WiFi Profile won't work anymore and a new profile needs to be installed.
This standard is supported by all mobile devices and WiFi hardware, making it a solid choice in case universal support is required. However, the dependency on the SSID name may pose some constraints on certain scenarios. Please note that the SSID can also be "hidden", meaning that end users will not discover it on the list of available WiFi networks on their devices, but once the device connects to it, the name will be visible to the user device.
Passpoint
Passpoint is the next-generation hotspot technology based on the Hotspot 2.0 standard. the connection to a WiFi network using Passpoint does not depend on the name of the SSID. In fact, the same SSID can virtually broadcast multiple virtual operator networks. Passpoint also offers greater support for roaming across enterprise networks, as well public and federated networks.
Passpoint is at the foundation of the OpenRaoming federation, which allows users to connect and authenticate to a vast number of networks managed by different service providers.
Passpoint profiles issued by Cloud4Wi are by default compatible with the OpenRoaming federation. Learn more about OpenRoaming.
Last modified 2mo ago
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