Miscellaneous 2 min. read

Benefits of Wi-Fi Passpoint & Why You Should Care

Benefits of Wi-Fi Passpoint & Why You Should Care

According to the WiFi Alliance, there are more than a million WiFi hotspots worldwide. In addition, a report by market research company Informa Telecoms and Media (Informa.com) states that Wifi hotspot numbers are set to grow to 5.8 million globally in the next four years.

While it’s great to have access to WiFi everywhere we go, there are issues with seamless connectivity and security. First, the connection process in most hotspot environments can be cumbersome.  Additionally, public WiFi is wide open and vulnerable to wireless sniffers. Without protection from a VPN ( virtual private network), the data on your wireless devices are vulnerable to criminals.

With cooperation from device makers and service providers, a new program has been introduced to address the seamless connection and security issues.

Benefits of Wi-Fi Passpoint

According to the Wi-Fi Alliance,

“Wi-Fi Passpoint will transform the way users connect to WiFi hotspot networks by making the process of finding and getting access to the right network seamless. It also provides user connections with WPA2™ security protection, enabling you to feel confident that your data is safe. Mobile devices that are certified for Passpoint, such as handsets and tablets, can still be used in existing hotspots. However, when you are in a Passpoint-enabled hotspot, you’ll discover a newly smooth connectivity experience.”

Added benefits of Wi-Fi Passpoint is that there will be less data usage on a carrier’s 3/4G network. With carriers pretty much nixing unlimited data use, consumers are finding they have to upgrade their data plans so they don’t go over their limit. With Passpoint, data usage will go down when WiFi connections happen effortlessly.

This is all great news for millions of people now using their wireless digital devices exclusively. But always keep in mind that no matter what you are using—a laptop, tablet, reader or mobile phone—wireless is inherently insecure and until Passpoint becomes as ubiquitous, a VPN such as Hotspot Shield VPN is as an essential layer of protection for your wireless devices.

Learn more about Hotspot Shield VPN

Robert Siciliano on

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