Patent ID: 8553662

Claim:
A system for providing Wi-Fi roaming within a service provider network, the system comprising: a roaming Wi-Fi device, comprising a media access control (MAC) address; a roaming datastore storing service set identifications (SSIDs) and security configurations of one or more wireless access points (APs) in association with MAC addresses of one or more roaming Wi-Fi devices, wherein the one or more APs are nodes in the service provider network; a first wireless AP device configured with an SSID and a security configuration, wherein the first wireless AP is a component of a home gateway; and a second wireless AP device, wherein the second wireless AP device is a component of a foreign gateway and wherein the second wireless AP comprises a processor configured with processor executable software instructions to perform operations comprising: instantiating a virtual access point (VAP); receiving a probe request frame from a roaming Wi-Fi device, wherein the probe request comprises the MAC address of the roaming Wi-Fi device and the SSID of the first wireless AP device; determining that the roaming Wi-Fi device access is authorized to associate with the VAP when the SSID of the first wireless AP is stored in the roaming datastore in association with the MAC address of the roaming Wi-Fi device; retrieving the security configuration of the first wireless AP from the roaming datastore when the roaming Wi-Fi device is authorized; associating with the roaming Wi-Fi device using the SSID and the security configuration of the first wireless AP device when it is determined that the roaming Wi-Fi device is authorized; establishing a tunnel between the foreign gateway and the home gateway over a network; and providing the roaming Wi-Fi device access to the home gateway via the tunnel while maintaining an internet protocol (IP) address of the roaming Wi-Fi device assigned to the roaming Wi-Fi device by the home gateway.