HYDERABAD: Public wifi-hotspots, hundreds of them, were launched across the city with much fanfare in these last couple of years. If you felt they weren't enough, the Government's taking a step ahead in launching as many as 4000 hotspots in Hyderabad for the next few months. But, how far have they been a part of a resident’s existence? From Cyber towers to Tankbund to railway stations, there are quite a handy lot of public wi-fi hotspots that have not been used by the public, at least as much they were expected to.
There are quite a lot of issues to be looked at here. Speed issues aside, there are login problems to begin with. The OTP with which the user is supposed to access the Wi-fi often is notorious to arrive late, sometimes so much that the code may have expired by the time it reaches your mobile inbox.
The crowd density makes us look at it from a different perspective altogether. Though the intent to this more or less has been to ensure immediate help at emergency situations, the basics being weak here spoils much of the aim. Paresh Masade, co-founder of an alumni network adds to these words. “I’ve probably accessed only a few times at a railway station and other prominent parts of the city. The case here is, when internet is available at reasonable rates, the speed too being taken care of, by the 3G/4G network providers, why will a common man take notice?” he questions.
Beyond the half an hour slot at most hotspots, a user is required to pay if he/she uses the wifi. Will they be convinced even if there’s a need? The fact’s that the purpose may not be served when you need it the most. The connection often is known to break. Raja Satish, a software engineer from his limited set of usage experiences across the city, remarks, “When I’m doing an online transaction and just when I have to confirm it, if it breaks, why will I use it? One of the times when I used a wifi spot at Cyber Towers, things went fine, but that’s about it.” He admits there’s enough awareness about its presence, but the public is only using it sparingly.
Paresh meanwhile also recollects the wifi usage experiences for a brief phase at AC stations. It didn’t go great. “There were privacy issues. The mobile-number security was one trouble people genuinely complained. The speed was fine though the other aspects were a letdown,” he states. Raja too adds, when the hotspots even increase to the number specified above, he would use it only when there’s a good balance of speed, security and timeliness.
Author and techie Jatin Kuberkar doesn’t recollect particular incidents of using the wifi-hotspots in Hyderabad, but keeps us informed of an interesting development that’s serving the purpose too. “Wi-fi in cabs do the job. There are lot of emerging car rental services that make it a point to have wi-fi as part of the service set they provide, some examples include Easy Commute, Commute.co,” he informs.
