MetroPCS Offloads 20% to Wi-Fi

   

Sue Marek reports to Fierce Wireless that according to iPass CTO Barbara Nelson (pictured) - "..some operators are unwilling to offload traffic to Wi-Fi unless they own the network, while others, such as MetroPCS, are offloading a significant amount of traffic to Wi-Fi now .. Although they are not broadcasting it, we estimate 20 percent of MetroPCS' traffic is offloaded to Wi-Fi"

MetroPCS would not confirm the iPass statistic. However spokesman Drew Crowell said the firm is "encouraged by what we are seeing with traffic offloaded to Wi-Fi". In May, an AT&T executive said that "AT&T didn’t see Wi-Fi helping the nation’s No. 2 carrier offset congestion" (here).

It is not clear if the Wi-Fi offloading percentage refers to Wi-Fi services in public areas only, or includes the use of home/office Wi-Fi as well. If the latter is included, then the 20% figure does not look very high.

See "MetroPCS may be offloading at least 20% of its traffic to Wi-Fi" - here.