Auto-authentication is a double-edged sword.

It’s a boon for users of registered Wi-Fi devices, letting them automatically connect to CableWiFi, a nationwide hotspot collaboration among cable providers, without having to enter a username and password. But it’s a different story for MSOs, who saw key branding disappear along with their login page. Front Porch Inc. is helping MSOs regain this branding opportunity with its in-browser messaging system. The majority of the CableWiFi hotspot operators in the U.S. are now Front Porch-enabled, serving millions of Wi-Fi users.

Front Porch lets Wi-Fi providers deliver in-browser messages such as product promotions, app discovery, and service notifications to subscribers’ registered devices. With Front Porch’s in-browser notification, MSOs can add graphical content to any device’s screen and control its presentation, effects, and delivery as users surf the Internet. Now, when subscribers connect to a CableWiFi member network, they’re likely to see the MSO’s logo, as an overlay watermark, in the bottom right corner of their device’s browser, or perhaps a toolbar across the bottom of the screen, offering a variety of functions and messages.

MSOs can also use Front Porch technology to deliver device-specific promotions for Wi-Fi Finder, TV Everywhere, and Sports apps. Patented Front Porch technology ensures that all content is optimized for easy viewing on a variety of devices.

CableWiFi is a broad Wi-Fi-sharing effort among five of the nation’s largest MSOs, including Bright House Networks, Cox Communications, Optimum, Time Warner Cable, and XFINITY. The member companies give each other’s high-speed Internet customers free access to Wi-Fi hotspots outside their home network area. The majority of CableWiFi MSOs use the Front Porch in-browser messaging solution.

About Front Porch: Front Porch is the worldwide leader in Wi-Fi monetization. It offers residential and mobile broadband service providers a network-based in-browser notification solution that increases revenue by solving key communication needs, monetizing Wi-Fi, and making broadband a smart pipe without client-side software. Front Porch is headquartered in Sonora, California, with additional offices in Europe and Asia. www.frontporch.com/wifi