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Passpoint

Webopedia Staff
Last Updated May 24, 2021 8:03 am

Passpoint, also known as Hotspot 2.0, is a Wi-Fi Alliance protocol that discovers and authenticates Wi-Fi hotspots for accessing the internet. It streamlines network access in Wi-Fi hotspots and eliminates finding and authenticating a network each time a user connects. It’s based on the IEEE 802.11u standard for interworking with external networks.

Passpoint provides the ability for your device to connect to available Passpoint-certified Wi-Fi hotspots automatically. This provides better bandwidth to users and relieves carrier infrastructure of traffic.

Passpoint features

Passpoint provides features for security, flexibility, and simple deployment such as:

  • Automatic discovery and selection
  • Roaming between hotspots
  • Single SSID online sign-up
  • Operator-specific policies
  • Enterprise-level security for SIM and non-SIM devices alike

Passpoint benefits

There are multiple benefits to using Passpoint:

  • Public hotspots are easier to identify and more secure. For example, your device will automatically connect to the real public airport Wi-Fi without having to manually test multiple networks
  • Network providers can become partners with other providers, meaning hotspot locations are more prevalent.
  • Passpoint networks require enterprise-grade WPA2 encryption, meaning security is more than that of open Wi-Fi networks.

How to use Passpoint networks

Passpoint is supported in the latest version of Windows 10, macOS 10.9 or newer, Android 6.0 or newer, and iOS 7 or newer.

To connect, simply open the list of nearby Wi-Fi networks on your device and connect to the Passpoint-certified option. Once done, your device will automatically connect to affiliated Passpoint networks in the future.