Patent ID: 9730150
Date: 2017-08-08
CPC Classifications: H04L,H04W

Claim:
1. A method comprising: at a device comprising a processor, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver and a memory, receiving, at the processor, using the RF transceiver, a hotspot aggregator service identifier, transmitted by a hotspot of a wireless network, which identifies a hotspot aggregator service made available using the wireless network, the hotspot aggregator service associated with a plurality of aggregator network identifiers identifying respective aggregator networks, the respective aggregator networks providing network services from a plurality of network service providers; comparing, at the processor, the hotspot aggregator service identifier with hotspot aggregator service information stored in the memory in association with respective information of whether a respective service subscription already exists for a respective hotspot aggregator service; and when the hotspot aggregator service identifier matches the hotspot aggregator service information, and when the respective information stored in the memory indicates that a service subscription already exists for the hotspot aggregator service identified by the hotspot aggregator service identifier, initiating, at the processor, authentication to the respective hotspot aggregator service using the RF transceiver by: setting up a tunnel through the hotspot between the device and an aggregator authentication server; and authenticating the device with the aggregator authentication server.