Commercial WiFi: Why or Why Not?

[freelancer]

Hello guys! I'm writing an article for T3 magazine about commercial WiFi. Who among you find commercial WiFi a must-have? A necessary expense? Is there anyone who thinks it's a luxury? Do you think commercial WiFi is sustainable?

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!

[berniej]

Personally, its not a "must have" since I have full access at the office -- 8 hours a day, 5 times a week. Whenever I need to do wireless surfing, I simply plunk 100 pesos for a 1 hour wi-fi access at my favorite coffeeshop.

is it a necessary expense or a luxury?
Yup! But I cannot personally justify a monthly maintenance for a service that I will only use for less than 2 hours a week -- that's why prepaid is the way to go for me.

It may be considered a luxury *but* I already have the equipment for it (a wi-fi enabled notebook) so I might as well use it.

Is it sustainable?
IMHO, not at the moment unless they roll out service similar to that being offered by Meridian Telekoms (wireless broadband at home + roaming) at an affordable price. Another driving force for this to be sustainable is the continued availability of low cost wi-fi enabled notebooks.

[CooLes]

Personally think commercial Hotspots are a must-have. Especially for mobile professionals who need to get broadband internet access for email, VoiP, etc. For creative professionals like me, I find it indispensable when I need to work outside the office, like when I need to clear my head and think of ideas. What would make WiFi sustainable is if more commercial establishments support it. For previous subscribers to Airborne Access like me, the Reload plan makes the cost comparable to basic dial-up. And with broadband speeds, it makes it faster and cheaper than upcoming competing cellular technology like 3G.

[super_ed]

Who among you find commercial WiFi a must-have?

Me, because of my work.

A necessary expense?

It is since you're paying portability, instant internet, and pleasing sight in a more conducive environment other than your office or bedroom. I think the extra cost you have to pay for it that makes it expensive, a frap would cost about 60 minutes access.

Is there anyone who thinks it's a luxury?

Probably those who still have to buy a separate wireless card for their portable, prepaid cards or fellow caffeine addicts.

Do you think commercial WiFi is sustainable?

Yep as long as there's Philmug.ph and Airborne. hehe. i recall when Globe Wiz is still free for post-paid subscriber, I frequent GB3 like three- four time a week.

[jerrytieng]

For me, wireless access is a MUST-HAVE for my line of work.

I have fat pipes coming out of my office and I decided to subscribe to Airborne Access' WiFi service so that when I'm on the road and I have to email that odd rush-proposal, all I have to do is to drive to the nearest SBC.

It's been a year since, unfortunately, my 2x-a-month usage of AA's service shows that for true mobility, wi-fi access has to be EVERYWHERE. (Well, there's also this little matter of my high sugar levels due to an overdose of iced latte's with generous servings of sweetened white chocolate.)

So instead of renewing, I got a PLDT WeRoam account instead. WeRoam utilizes Smart's extensive cellular network to essentially provide unlimited internet access via GPRS.

So now, instead of driving to SBC, I can be online and productive while stuck in traffic in the SLEX, while spending the last half hour of the work day in my client's office instead of coming back to mine, while having dinner with friends, or while hanging out in Starbucks and this time with sugar-free iced latte's.

My only complaint with WeRoam is that, most often than not, bandwidth is at dial-up levels (30-50Kbps) specially when you are in a GPRS-only cellsite. EDGE-enabled cellsites (about 10% of all cellsites) provides a more decent 70-100Kbps connection speed. In comparison, WiFi speeds in your favourite SBC as at least 100Kbps.

Wireless internet access using WiFi, WiMax, GPRS, EDGE, 3G, or whatever acronym you want to call it is not sustainable unless you're a major telco with deep pockets and long term business objectives.

Wireless internet access is definitely here to stay (sustainable or not) - as it is a must-have (Google anywhere), it is not *REALLY* a luxury (prices are always dropping), and it is simply going to be a way of life (like fax machines, cell phones, email, etc...).

Cheap, universal, wireless access is the final piece of the puzzle that will allow mere mortals like us to have affordable, anytime, anywhere access to all of mankind's digitized knowledge.

Maybe at some point in the future, humans don't have to go to school and study, they just have to be able to read and mouth off answers from Google. :P

[Edited on 6-6-2005 by jerrytieng]

[zChris]

Assuming there is no lack of subscribers (which is still a dangerous assumption at this point due to low laptop penetration, etc. etc. etc.) Commercial WIFI business model is really driven by one simple thing, pervasiveness. Assuming there is an addressible market out there, and this market has a choice of various providers but would only sensibly subscribe to one, then the WIFI provider with the most number of hotspots would always win. In a sense, the Commercial WIFI market is really like the cellular market where the number one requirement of subscribers is network coverage.

Having said this, however, the basic assumption of having an addressible market, and more importantly, a large enough addressible market to begin with, should be determined and validated.

There is potentially a large number of mobile users out there, but at a pure consumer level, I dont think the number of these users that will actually go to a hotspot just to surf the internet is high enough to make good business. For one thing, surfing in a hotspot with your own notebook is quite a lot more expensive than simply going to an internet cafe and surfing in one of their terminals. Email is becoming a fundamental method of communication for consumers as well, but these guys would most likely have a yahoo or hotmail account which would not really require them to bring their computers to a hotspot to check mail. This does not even take into consideration the value of immediacy of the content of the mail messages, which is not as high as that for business users. The third largest pure consumer group would be gamers, but again the internet cafe would be the place to be for this market.

I would think therefore that the market would be in the business segment, whether they are mobile workers from a large enterprise, independent business professionals / entrepreneurs, or inbound roamers.

For enterprise users, the question then becomes a matter of access, specifically whether they are given access to back end systems or not by their corporate IT department. Connecting via notebook to a corporate back end system is quite a bit more complicated to setup, with VPN servers and client licenses and hardware that must be purchased, laptop and embedded software deployment issues, and of course, corporate information security issues. It is unfortunate that due to the costs and other considerations of providing "virtual LAN" access to a mobile employee, these services are reserved for middle to top management, which would not be sitting in a hotspot in the middle of Makati to access email, but would probably be using these services in a hotel room or hotspot abroad while on business trips. As companies open up access more to lower level employees, the Commercial WIFI business model may make sense.

Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, could potentially be a different story. These users do not have to contend with strict enterprise security policies and do have their own hardware and software to access data, which is most likely stored in a data center (provided through an ASP model) accessible by the public internet. These mobile professionals would be mobile most of the time, and their need to access critical information would be higher.

The other potential group of users would be inbound roamers. In other countries with more developed corporate IT systems with provision for mobile access, accessing data at hotspots would be the key to enusre mobile professionals are connected and productive. These users would have VPN services available to them, would most likely have a laptop, and would be sophisticated enough from previous experience to know how to access their data via the internet. The question then becomes how large this potential market is.

[andrefournier]

IF commercial WIFI is such that it will replace dial up and restricted DSL coverage then there would be a need for it .

However, the additional cost of wireless cards, modems etc is a bit restrictive as of the moment plus there isnt a promise of seamless service makes one wonder how this will be affordable and usable.

Furthermore, wireless connectivity outside of Metro Manila aside from the rare hotspot, Meridien or We roam service is practically non existent