Google’s Orion WiFi aims to fix all your WiFi roaming woes

Connectivity issues can sometimes be some of the most troublesome challenges that one can face while stepping outside their homes. Sure, there are public WiFi hotspots available in malls, stores and cafes but they can be unreliable in providing a reliable and secure connection. To solve this problem, Google has launched an initiative called Orion WiFi.

To give you a quick brief, Orion WiFi is an initiative born out of Google’s moonshot factory Area 120 and it is lead by Area 120 director Raj Gajwani. It is an easy way for public venues such as grocery stores, malls and medical offices to sell WiFi capacity to cellular carriers. This, in turn, ensures that users connect to a reliable and secure WiFi network every time they step out of their homes.

“As you walk into the grocery store, Orion Wifi helps the local network tell the carrier about its price and quality. If the carrier decides the connection is good enough, we’ll auto-connect you. If the quality is too low, we won’t. When you are connected, Internet traffic flows over the Wi-Fi network just as if you had connected directly to the Wi-Fi; Orion cannot access users’ Internet traffic,” Google explained in a blog post.

Google’s Orion WiFi uses WiFi networks in office buildings, stores, malls, restaurants, transit hubs and hospitals to connect more visitors and to provide a new revenue stream to the venue owner. It works with most commercial and enterprise Wi-Fi systems with no new hardware or software and it helps improve connectivity even for venues that have already deployed Distributed Antenna Systems or Small Cells to improve coverage.

Google said that Google Fi and Republic Wireless are among the first cellular carriers to use this new technology. It is also partnering with leading Wi-Fi manufacturers like Cisco Systems, CommScope (RUCKUS) and Juniper Mist to ensure that Orion Wifi is compatible and easy to deploy with their networking equipment. Additionally, it is working with the Wireless Broadband Alliance on the emerging OpenRoaming standard to make Wi-Fi roaming even more powerful.

Orion WiFi will be available to United States-based public venues starting September 8.