ts-PWLAN: a value-add system for providing tiered wireless services in public hot-spots

Access to data services through wireless means gains is becoming commonplace daily. Wireless LANs are deployed in both private (e.g., corporate or home) and in public “hot-spot” (e.g., hotels and airports) settings. Accessing data services via (for profit) public wireless LAN (PWLAN) installations is typically based on user subscription and pre-configured services profiles pertaining primarily access to the global Internet. The goal of ts-PWLAN project is to define a broad architecture and provide a prototype implementation that enables the provision of premium and non-premium tiers of services to transient users, provides for dynamic renegotiation of a tier of service and enables various billing modes based on connectivity time, usage, and so on, thus enabling service providers to increase their revenue opportunities through multiple service offerings to transient and non-transient users.