White Zones Specific User Journeys

Enabling SMS authentication and calls via WiFi in areas with poor mobile reception.

SMS Reception and Voice Over WiFi in White Zones

Bank branches often face unreliable mobile reception, especially in white zones, where network coverage is limited or absent. Around 15% of branches experience these issues, making SMS-based authentication difficult for customers. Large buildings and underground areas further disrupt signal strength, causing delays in receiving authentication SMS messages.

Staff also need help making or receiving calls while connected to guest WiFi. They must log in through a captive portal, which interrupts workflow and affects communication. This creates a need for a solution that supports both customer authentication and seamless staff communication without these disruptions.

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SMS reception and voice-over Wi-Fi in white zones

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Delivering SMS Over WiFi

At Cloudi-Fi, our cloud-based captive portal solution enables SMS messages to be sent over the WiFi network, ensuring that customers in white zones can receive their authentication SMS without relying on mobile coverage. By routing SMS through WiFi, we bypass the need for mobile networks, allowing customers to access the bank’s WiFi services regardless of poor reception.

Technically, this shifts SMS traffic to the WiFi network, significantly reducing reliance on external mobile networks. Banks can maintain their standard SMS registration process across all branches without concerns about mobile signal quality. This provides faster, more reliable authentication while giving banks greater control over the customer’s connection journey, particularly in challenging network areas.

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Enabling VoWiFi for Seamless Voice Communication

VoWiFi (Voice over WiFi) allows staff to make and receive calls over the bank’s WiFi network, solving the problem of poor mobile reception. By routing voice traffic through WiFi, staff can stay connected and communicate without needing to authenticate through a portal before making or receiving calls. This technology ensures staff can maintain consistent communication, even in white zones where mobile signal strength is unreliable.

The setup for VoWiFi is straightforward and uses the bank's existing WiFi infrastructure. Calls are routed securely over WiFi using IKE (UDP 500) and IKE-NAT (UDP 4500) protocols, providing reliable and secure voice communication. This allows staff to work without interruptions from network issues or delays from mobile authentication, creating a more efficient and seamless workflow.

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Fallback for Devices Without VoWiFi Support

For devices that don’t support VoWiFi, such as older phones, Cloudi-Fi offers alternative authentication methods like social media and email logins. This provides flexibility for users who cannot use SMS over WiFi or VoWiFi, ensuring that all customers, including those with older devices or international visitors without local network access, can still connect to the bank’s WiFi in white zones.

From a technical standpoint, social media and email logins are straightforward to integrate into the existing WiFi infrastructure using current systems without additional hardware or complicated configurations. This ensures that all users, regardless of their device's compatibility with VoWiFi or SMS over WiFi, have a secure and reliable way to access the network, even in areas with poor mobile reception.