Look around you – how many people don't own a smartphone – that is, with video streaming, availability of a wide range of services and apps, and social media? Not many. As a result, networks suffocate, application performance suffers and dropped calls result.

But existing networks, when complemented with Wi-Fi offload, can squarely bear the burden, and Devicescape, the Wi-Fi offload company, is doing its mite to ease network congestion. It has licensed Wi-Fi data from its Curated Virtual Network (CVN) to Microsoft, benefiting Windows Phone (News - Alert) 8 users.

According to Dave Fraser, CEO at Devicescape, Windows Phone 8 users will now have an alternative way to manage their monthly data plan and simultaneously get the same quality of service they’re used to.

Devicescape has no hotspots of its own. It relies on crowdsourced information from mobile devices and on global Wi-Fi spots, selects the fastest and most reliable nodes, and offers them to its carrier customers and to consumers as a virtual network.

Users can now easily and reliably locate high-quality hotspots. Devicescape reportedly connects more devices to more Wi-Fi hotspots than any other offload service as the Wi-Fi offload company manages the largest virtual network of hotspots worldwide.

"By leveraging the Devicescape network of public hotspots, Microsoft (News - Alert) can now pass along tremendous value to its Windows Phone 8 users enabling them to locate a nearby quality Wi-Fi network,” he added.

The Wi-Fi network is constantly growing and new hotspots are being discovered, while the quality of existing access points is continuously assessed.

The Devicescape Offload Service transparently offloads cellular data traffic to Wi-Fi, integrating commercial networks ensuring an enhanced and transparent user experience while providing significant value to end users and reducing mobile data cost.

"By utilizing the Devicescape Wi-Fi hotspot data, Windows Phone 8 users will be able to locate free and popular Wi-Fi hotspots, allowing them to save money wherever they may be," said Reid Kuhn, Windows Phone program manager.

Devicescape, the Wi-Fi offload company, announced that Cincinnati Bell will deploy Devicescape's offload solution, anchored by Devicescape's Curated Virtual Network (CVN). Cincinnati Bell's wireless customers who use Android (News - Alert) smartphones will now have automatic access to the CVN of over 11 million hotspots and growing, enabling a superior end-user experience and additional network capacity to better handle growing levels of data demand.