Ed Chao, SVP of Corporate Engineering and Network Operations at MetroPCS Inc. views Wi-Fi as an integral part of the network and doesn't favor the idea of calling Wi-Fi traffic "offload."

"I think of it as augmentation," he says. "It's not an offload."

Chao won't say how much of Metro's traffic flows over Wi-Fi and how much is on the wide area cellular because, to him, it's all the same. It's a question born of the "offload" mentality. "What I see on my macro hasn't gone down," he said. "It keeps on going up. My view, and we need to get the industry here as well, is that Wi-Fi is a friend; it's complementary."

The industry's view of Wi-Fi has definitely changed. The industry is driven by economies of scale, Chao explains. There was a time when Wi-Fi added a significant cost to handsets. The inflection point came around 2006-2007. Before that, when a carrier wanted to add Wi-Fi to a handset, the manufacturer said sure, but it's going to cost you several more bucks. For a low-cost provider sensitive about a few bucks, that adds up. The operator couldn't fully embrace Wi-Fi until the numbers penciled out.

MetroPCS, whose merger with T-Mobile USA currently is under federal review, started offering a custom version of Devicescape Software Inc.'s Easy WiFi, called MetroPCS Easy WiFi, back in 2010. The service was introduced on Metro's Android smartphones, giving customers an icon to indicate when they're using Wi-Fi.

Wi-Fi is a "great technology," Chao says, but it has its limitations too. Like other technologies, it doesn't perform well when there are a lot of other users on it. The macro network uses licensed spectrum and global standards. Wi-Fi is an unlicensed and shared medium, and it's always going to be a niche. "It's a growing niche and we're very glad of that, but it doesn't scale … in a way that a licensed band or service providers can do."

MetroPCS has a deal with Towerstream but it won't disclose the nature or details of it. Other vendors would like some of Metro's Wi-Fi business, too. Boingo offers a deal through the Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) that gives CCA members pre-negotiated pricing and terms. Cable operators are part of the mix, too.

"We're in discussion with a lot of different vendors," Chao says. "There are lots of opportunities out there. … We're talking to everybody, because why not? As long as the business terms are reasonable."

Generally speaking, "reasonable" for Metro means the company should be able to offer unlimited use of that Wi-Fi without breaking the bank. "Strategically, we believe the right business model is usage-based pricing," Chao says.

Looking ahead, what needs to happen, he said, is a way to federate all these assets from various owners, so that all the complexity of fragmented islands of Wi-Fi can be pulled together, similar to how Devicescape does it for the handset. Imagine doing the same thing with a carrier Wi-Fi.

Interestingly, MetroPCS on Oct. 31 announced the world's first commercial launch of Rich Communication Services (RCS) on an LTE network. It's using the joyn brand, which is based on the GSMA RCS 5.0 standard. Besides enabling unified messaging and other services, the offering includes Wi-Fi calling and video calls over Wi-Fi. RCS is often characterized as the carriers' answer to address over-the-top (OTT) communications services like Microsoft's Skype and Apple's FaceTime.

For Metro's philosophy on that, Chao defers to the product management team, but at a high level, joyn is a way for the carrier industry to maintain control over their customer relationships and evolve services to the next generation, adding richer services and presence. Says Chao: "It's about doing what we do best. … We provide great communications services."

— Monica Alleven, special to Light Reading