Over the past two months, we've laid out why so many large venues deliver full bars and no service, and the funding problem facing tens of thousands of aging distributed antenna systems (DAS). We also showed that Wi-Fi offload can extend the life of an aging DAS by balancing users between the two networks. Wi-Fi offload is a real service that venues can start using today. But there's a more surgical option: splitting traffic not just by user, but by what the traffic is.

Why put voice on the DAS and data on Wi-Fi?

A good craftsman knows any job goes best with the right tool, and a venue with a cellular DAS and a Wi-Fi network has two tools at its disposal. A logical division of labor is to keep voice traffic on the DAS and push as much data as possible onto Wi-Fi. Bit for bit, Wi-Fi carries data at lower cost, with the quality of service (QoS) a good user experience requires. Every gigabyte the Wi-Fi carries frees up capacity on an aging DAS, and that capacity goes toward what the DAS does best: keeping voice calls connected and stable.

What happens to emergency calls and E911?

Because voice stays on the cellular DAS, emergency services and E911 (the enhanced 911 system that delivers a caller's location to dispatchers) work exactly as they do today. A voice-and-data split improves the experience for everyone in the building without touching compliance-critical traffic. Venue operators don't have to choose between modernizing the network and maintaining the status quo where it matters most. Although, separately, Helium continues to engage in discussions at the federal level around improvements to E911 and where modern Wi-Fi provides benefits that weren’t available when some of the first responder connectivity standards were implemented.

How does WOX Gateway manage the voice and data split?

The first step is enabling carrier-grade Wi-Fi offload on the Helium Network: phones are handed off to the venue's existing Wi-Fi automatically and securely via Passpoint, with no app and no sign-in, using credentials already on the device. As of November 2026, more than 58,000 access points already carry carrier traffic this way, serving over 1.4 million people daily.

WOX Gateway, part of the HeliumOS platform, then manages the split through policy, and makes sure the Wi-Fi earns the traffic it's given. After all, a seamless handoff to a bad connection is a seamlessly bad user experience. WOX consumes real-time quality metrics from both the DAS and the Wi-Fi, so data goes to Wi-Fi first, only when the Wi-Fi is ready for it, and the DAS keeps its capacity in reserve for voice. Given how much more data than voice a phone moves, this “right tool for the right job” approach can add years to the useful life of a DAS at a fraction of the cost of a full upgrade.

Venues have spent years treating the DAS and the Wi-Fi as separate worlds, one for cellular and one for laptops. WOX and the Helium Network's suite of tools converge them into a single system that saves major venues millions of dollars in connectivity upgrades, with each network carrying the traffic it was built to carry.

Summary

Does Wi-Fi offload affect E911 or emergency calls? 

No. Under a voice-and-data split, voice calls, including 911, stay on the cellular DAS, so E911 compliance and emergency services are unchanged.

Why split voice and data between a DAS and Wi-Fi? 

Wi-Fi carries data at lower cost with sufficient QoS, and voice is the traffic a DAS handles best. Offloading data frees DAS capacity to keep calls connected.

How much life does the split add to an aging DAS? 

Data dwarfs voice in volume, so moving data to Wi-Fi can add years of useful life to a DAS at a fraction of the cost of a full upgrade.

Curious about DAS and Wi-Fi convergence at your venue?

Email business@helium.com to talk through what your networks could each carry best, or ask about a WOX demo.