The UK-based Mobile signal mapper, OpenSignal has unveiled a new mobile app - WiFiMapper - that allows users to see nearby public Wi-Fi networks based on their phone GPS location over crowd sourced data leveraging over its 1.5 million active user-base globally. Based on users' internet connection historical data, WiFiMapper can provide recommendations for the best WiFi Hotspot nearby them. The company claims that its database contains over 500 million hotspots and over 2 million recommended free hotspots.
The London-based wireless coverage startup boasts technology that monitors the speed and network coverage of mobile networks, providing users with mobile coverage availability and signal strength globally across thousands of cities. OpenSignal monetizes the crowd sourced data by selling it to mobile networks operators for their network’s performance improvements.
The app is available for free for IOS and is expected to be made available to Android users in coming weeks. The WiFiMapper app can also provide information and user reviews from Foursquare. According to Opensignal, the app recommends hotspots based on a number of heuristics (including whether a hotspot can be mapped to a specific foursquare location, how many OpenSignal users have connected etc.) that are used to determine the likelihood of whether the hotspot is likely to be freely accessible to the public.
