Singapore To Provide Free WiFi For Two Years

[Nurhisham Hussein]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/234742/1/.html' target='_blank'>http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stor.../234742/1/.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"For many Singaporeans, whether at work or play, their lifestyle - from using cell phones to instant messaging - is already digital. The government wants to take one step further and make it all mobile. So, from January 2007, it will be rolling out wireless broadband Internet in all public spaces, called Wireless@SG, for free, for the first two years."</i><br /><br />Just one more thing for Malaysians to envy about our southern neighbours - they get free access over the whole country while we have to live with patchy coverage and extortion...err...high access fees. Granted it's a pretty small country, but that hasn't stopped Singapore from rushing full steam ahead into the digital age. The government is also planning to subsidise PCs for poor families because "...at least 14 percent of households still do not have computers." :wink: Is broad coverage of wifi something you think <i>your</i> government should do, no matter the cost?

[tl47]

Well, you might think Malaysia has it bad... wait till you see the situation in the land down under!

We pay AUD99 for 1GB (that's 2.7 * 99 RM) minimum (depending on carrier), 18 months-2 years contract! You pay RM99/month for unlimited with Digi or RM129/month for unlimited 3G with Maxis I believe, no contract. Nothing to complain about!!! That's one of the best prices around the world, although I believe the service is not reliable (but so is it here! Not sure about Sydney, but in Adelaide... quite certainly) There is also no EDGE services (most Windows Mobile phones!), until recently... with actual pricing with Telstra still unknown (the data pack pricing seems to apply only for 3G services. I'm not sure.).

So, I guess... the grass is always greener. Singapore's doing a great thing though. I just wish we have something like this elsewhere too! But heck, dream on! :P

[Darius Wey]

There is also no EDGE services (most Windows Mobile phones!), until recently... with actual pricing with Telstra still unknown (the data pack pricing seems to apply only for 3G services. I'm not sure.).

Telstra's EDGE pricing is the same as their GPRS pricing. The enhancement was simply tacked on quietly, so existing GPRS users could take advantage of it if their phone supported it. It wasn't announced publicly, primarily to avoid shadowing of the buzz surrounding Next G.

[Ketsugi]

I posted about this (http://ketsugi.com/panegyrist/islandwide-wi-fi-in-singapore-by-2007/) a while back. I think it's great that we'll get free nationwide wifi, but I'm going to stay a little paranoid for a while and wait to see how the government handles all the security issues inherent to such a large area wifi network.

[tl47]

Telstra's EDGE pricing is the same as their GPRS pricing. The enhancement was simply tacked on quietly, so existing GPRS users could take advantage of it if their phone supported it. It wasn't announced publicly, primarily to avoid shadowing of the buzz surrounding Next G.

If that is true, then that only bolsters my point even more: it's a whooping AUD99/month for 70MB/month or something ridiculous! I'm not so sure though. I really think their new data plan might apply to their GPRS/EDGE services now. (Please note they just updated their webpages on this in the last few days, but their website is nearly useless in terms of looking for such technical info, and I can't even find the link to gprs pricing now... girlsgonemobile had an article on pricing... but her's focused on the 3G services, and she updated the article with the new pricing now too.).

[whydidnt]

Is broad coverage of wifi something you think your government should do, no matter the cost?

Definitely not. I think the US government and most others should focus on governing and don't fit the roll of service provider. I can think of so many other critical ways for government to spend it's limited resources.

[tl47]

I posted about this (http://ketsugi.com/panegyrist/islandwide-wi-fi-in-singapore-by-2007/) a while back. I think it's great that we'll get free nationwide wifi, but I'm going to stay a little paranoid for a while and wait to see how the government handles all the security issues inherent to such a large area wifi network.

I can see the problems there... with censorship and peeking into messages/data being a possibility. Also, there's probably a high density of hacking-gurus in Asia.

I also wonder what's the plan after the two free years? Back to the original article though, I suspect Malaysia's telcos are considering wimax? That will be a step in the right direction I think. Sg's service won't be free after 2 years anyway... A good move by the govt to spur adoption of mobile networks though!

[Darius Wey]

If that is true, then that only bolsters my point even more: it's a whooping AUD99/month for 70MB/month or something ridiculous! I'm not so sure though. I really think their new data plan might apply to their GPRS/EDGE services now. (Please note they just updated their webpages on this in the last few days, but their website is nearly useless in terms of looking for such technical info, and I can't even find the link to gprs pricing now... girlsgonemobile had an article on pricing... but her's focused on the 3G services, and she updated the article with the new pricing now too.).

To be honest, I've given up on data at the moment. The costs are ludicrously high, and don't even compare to what parts of Asia and North America offer. :roll:

[wbuch]

Is broad coverage of wifi something you think your government should do, no matter the cost?

Absolutely not. I should not be forced at the point of a gun to pay for others' free WiFi usage.

[ADBrown]

Is broad coverage of wifi something you think your government should do, no matter the cost?

Absolutely not. I should not be forced at the point of a gun to pay for others' free WiFi usage.

Well that's a pretty silly statement. As a citizen you're obligated to pay for a lot of things that you may not use or agree with. Pacifists aren't excepted from having to pay for our trillion-dollar-a-year war machine, and people who don't like Congress are still paying their salaries.

[wbuch]

Is broad coverage of wifi something you think your government should do, no matter the cost?

Absolutely not. I should not be forced at the point of a gun to pay for others' free WiFi usage.

Well that's a pretty silly statement. As a citizen you're obligated to pay for a lot of things that you may not use or agree with. Pacifists aren't excepted from having to pay for our trillion-dollar-a-year war machine, and people who don't like Congress are still paying their salaries.

In what way is it silly to think that the use of force is wrong? He asked a question as to whether we thought it was right for government to provide "free" WiFi service, and I answered it. Your response to me seems to indicate that your answer to his question is "yes"; mine is "no".

[whydidnt]

Well that's a pretty silly statement. As a citizen you're obligated to pay for a lot of things that you may not use or agree with. Pacifists aren't excepted from having to pay for our trillion-dollar-a-year war machine, and people who don't like Congress are still paying their salaries.

So where do you draw the line? Is Free WiFi really an essential service that the Government and it's taxpayers should provide? Many of us feel the Governments job is to govern, protect its citizens and provide essential services that would not otherwise be available. There are plenty of good examples of essential services that it makes sense for a municipality to provide, water for example, where it would be difficult for competing business to run water pipes in the street. However, WiFi is not encumbered by these physical restrictions, so why should the government provide it?

[heliod]

Is broad coverage of wifi something you think your government should do, no matter the cost?

Absolutely not. I should not be forced at the point of a gun to pay for others' free WiFi usage.

Well that's a pretty silly statement. As a citizen you're obligated to pay for a lot of things that you may not use or agree with. Pacifists aren't excepted from having to pay for our trillion-dollar-a-year war machine, and people who don't like Congress are still paying their salaries.

Well, the point is not here.

The point is that you need a government with a lot of courage to do that.

There are many economical interests involved: internet providers, cellular providers, paid-wifi providers, and others that we can't even imagine. At the moment that the government provides free wifi coverage, it causes enormous damage to all those businesses that were filling the gap up to that point, and they surely won't like it.

Just as an example, the municipality of Jerusalem made last year a project to cover all the center of the city with WiFi. Their partners on the project were Intel and a third company, an integrator. Well, one of the most important components of the project was an intelligent packet filter that would prevent all kinds of activities done by people who are using the network from home.... very large downloads and other things.... additionally to disconnecting you every couple of hours. All that in order to ensure that the Wifi network was for passing-by users only, and would not compete with service providers in the market of the people living in the area.

I believe it could be a good service by governments looking for an improved lifestyle in their countries. But I also believe that there are things much more important in the line that haven't been addressed, like poverty and hunger as a first example.

[Nurhisham Hussein]

But I also believe that there are things much more important in the line that haven't been addressed, like poverty and hunger as a first example.

While the situation obviously can't be generalised to other countries, Singpore can do stuff like free wifi because I believe it's illegal to be poor or hungry there :devilboy:

[airconvent]

WIFI is just a connection medim, so obviously there's not going to be any censorship issue beyond what is already existing.

I believe the government wants as many people to try out wifi and they are sticking out a 2-year free carrot to do this. The wifi will also help to spur all those supporting industries which would otherwise not have started in the first place. once the 2 years are up, hopefully the critical mass connected would enable better economies of scale for the operators, so citizens have low cost access while the government achieves it aim of bringing IT to the nation.
This low cost thing though is a case of the grass being greener elsewhere.
I remember many people here complaining how cheap access is in HK (not sure if its still true) or Korea or US...and that the 3 service providers are keeping cost high to sustain high profits. But these days, the market is really growing and competition is hotting up between the telcos.as each want to grab a bigger share before anyone else does...
each time I sign a new contract, the price drops the following month!
When I first started, they were charging me $78 (US$48 ) for 2-year unlimited 512K access. When I renewed my contract, it dropped to $65 (US$40) and I was upgraded to 1500K access. A few months back, they were offering it at $43 (US$27). Now they are trying to entice me with 3500K access for $58 (US$36)! And that's when they were rolling out their premium 10MB plans...decisions..decisions..decisions...
The local cable company is meeting the challenge with higher BW services too...mostly at around $58 a month (US$36)...