Each week RETNetworks rounds up what is happening on the Helium Network, the people-built wireless network that lets ordinary Wi-Fi carry mobile carrier traffic. Here is what mattered this week for venues, event organizers and businesses.
A 23-hospital health system moved 145 TB of phone data in one week over its existing Wi-Fi
Helium published a case study on September 28: a U.S. health system with 28 locations in Missouri, Illinois, Oklahoma and Wisconsin carried more than 145 TB of patient and visitor mobile traffic during the week of September 8–14 using 10,654 access points it already owned. One campus alone carried 79 TB. Big buildings full of people and weak cell signal are exactly where carrier offload shines, and the same is true for stadiums, arenas and event grounds. Read the story
Helium launches HeliumOS for mobile carriers
Light Reading reported on September 2 that Helium launched HeliumOS, a platform that helps mobile operators manage service quality on Wi-Fi as well as cellular. The network now counts about 141,000 Wi-Fi access points, with roughly 40,000 actively carrying traffic. More carrier tools means more demand for well-placed venue Wi-Fi. Read the story
Madison Square Garden, Radio City and the Javits Center become Helium expansion zones
In July, Helium marked five high-traffic New York venues (Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, Grand Central Terminal, the Javits Center and the Port Authority Bus Terminal) as expansion zones where carriers see unmet demand. Venues with enterprise Wi-Fi from vendors like Ubiquiti, Cisco or Aruba can join with a software change. Large crowds are the use case. Read the story
Hotels and casinos are turning their Wi-Fi into a carrier network
Helium reports that 243 hospitality properties carried about 212 TB of offloaded mobile data in a 30-day window, mostly on equipment they already had. Guests connect automatically with no login or password. Read the Helium report
What this means for your venue or event
Crowds overload cell towers. Passpoint Wi-Fi on the Helium Network moves phones onto your Wi-Fi automatically, so attendees can call, text, post and pay even when the towers are jammed. RETNetworks can include Passpoint-ready Wi-Fi with our business fixed wireless plans. Ask us how it would work at your location.