Requirements for Network Selection May 2004 Requirements for Network Selection Eleanor Hepworth, Siemens Roke Manor Eleanor Hepworth, Siemens Roke Manor

May 2004 The Problem As WLAN hotspots proliferate, users are presented with more choice Each choice potentially has different capabilities that will effect the user How does the user decide which hotspot to attempt to authenticate with? Need to base decision on more than just signal strength Eleanor Hepworth, Siemens Roke Manor

What can we find out already? May 2004 What can we find out already? In IEEE 802.11, we can already discover: Data rates Security capability (RSN or not) Identity of hotspot operator QoS capability Isn’t this enough? Eleanor Hepworth, Siemens Roke Manor

Requirements PAWLAN presents some unique issues: May 2004 Requirements PAWLAN presents some unique issues: Operators want to offer access to roamed users Operators would like to offer new user sign up services Operators want some degree of control over their users Operators want to charge From the user perspective, it is useful to discover information about operator policy up front. Eleanor Hepworth, Siemens Roke Manor

What additional information do we want? May 2004 What additional information do we want? Is this a public hotspot? May be inferred from other information Roaming capability Does this hotspot support roamed users? Roaming agreements Can I reach my home operator? Charging policy How much hard earned cash will I have to part with? New User Signup Can a user with no previous subscription register? Eleanor Hepworth, Siemens Roke Manor

When do we need this information? May 2004 When do we need this information? Ideally, this information assists AP selection So it’s needed pre-association This requires support in Beacon/Probe Need to be realistic about what will fit May be we can provide just enough information to allow the STA to work things out e.g. if SSIDs were more meaningful hints Alternative:make some information available post-association, but pre the authentication exchange Might take a bit longer Eleanor Hepworth, Siemens Roke Manor

May 2004 Conclusions There is a definite requirement to support provision of augmented information for AP selection The appropriate way to make this information available depends on what the information is Need to establish what information is useful when Need an established procedure to allow STA to understand what’s going on Eleanor Hepworth, Siemens Roke Manor