CenturyLink / ScotRail Community Wi-Fi
Free community Wi-Fi services are being created, launched, and managed via the GlobalReach Wi-Fi management platform for UK rail customers. Working together since 2014, GlobalReach and global network services provider, CenturyLink (previously Level 3, now Lumen), saw an opportunity to help businesses offer their customers guest and corporate Wi-Fi services with a minimum bandwidth of 1MB.
ScotRail Customer Deployment
The two companies have been able to capitalise on new market opportunities across the UK. Their first engagement was the design, rollout, and ongoing management of the ScotRail guest Wi-Fi service. Level 3 has significant fibre-based assets that support the UK rail network, and GlobalReach, applying its previous experience of working with London Underground, was able to design a proposition for the transport sector.
Available at 60 stations since 2014, the free passenger service is based on CenturyLink’s Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network, alongside GlobalReach’s AAA RADIUS and captive portal platform, which is used to provision and authenticate users. Access points and controllers are installed on the station platforms to manage traffic.
Since the service launched in Feb 2014, it’s been used by over 1.2 million users1.
The service is also configured to offload Wi-Fi traffic. When a train pulls into a station, the GlobalReach platform recognises the train’s MAC address, pulling all subscriber mobile traffic onto the station’s Wi-Fi network. This delivers a better, more reliable user experience while the train is parked.
Behind the scenes, administrators are able to set policies, create, view, remove, and administer all wireless service accounts, to create a custom user experience and maintain service quality.
The GlobalReach platform is also used to support similar CenturyLink guest Wi-Fi services for other customers in the transport and legal sectors. For the government customer, the captive portal has been built using the new GlobalReach captive portal builder wizard.
1 Data for period Feb 2014-October 2016.
Key Highlights
- Guest and corporate Wi-Fi services for passengers and staff
- 60 ScotRail stations were first deployed in 2014
- Used by over 1.2 million users since launch
- Based on CenturyLink’s Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network, alongside GlobalReach’s AAA RADIUS and captive portal platform
CLIENT TESTIMONIAL
“The strength of our global network enabled us to provide an effective backbone for the WiFi portal platform. Working with GlobalReach we were able to define the service that our customers wanted to support their growth – all built, branded and launched within a matter of months.”
Andrew Edison, SVP of Sales, EMEA at Level 3