The Wi-Fi road less travelled

Straits Times 29 Jul 09;

THAM YUEN-C trawls the island for some unusual and lesser-known places where you can surf for free on Wireless@SG

AT THE hawker centre in Tampines Street 11, visitors can tuck into a plate of chicken rice for $1.80 - and surf the Net for free.

The town centre with 225 stalls and shops is one of a growing number of places in the heartland where people can expect to use the free Wireless@SG service, a government initiative meant to get people here surfing the Internet.

"So it is $1.80 for chicken rice with free Wi-Fi. That is added value for their customers," quipped Ken Chua, chief executive officer of iCell, one of the three private Wi-Fi service providers here which are extending the free service at the usual cafes, fast food joints and libraries to more quirky surf turfs.

The Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, the blood bank and even the toilets at East Coast Park are some of the out-of-town hotspots.

New surf turf

The push is part of a step-up to get Singapore wirelessly connected.

In June this year, the Government announced that it was pumping in another $9 million to give the Wireless@SG service a boost: It will be extended for another four years and surfing speeds will also be bumped up from 512kbps to 1Mbps by September.

The combination of Government assistance, increasing demand for wireless surfing in the heartland and new revenue sources for small businesses which want to give their customers something extra have led to the Wi-Fi push into surburbia.

The new hotspots will join the network of 7,500 locations - more than half of them in the Orchard Road shopping belt and in the Central Business District - already up since Wireless@SG first rolled out in 2006.

The service is a joint venture between the Government and three Wi-Fi service providers which comprise QMax, SingTel and iCell.

The cost of the network is shared among all parties. In 2006, the Government pledged $100 million for the project.

To date, 1.3 million people have signed up for the free service. On average, 35 per cent of people who use Wireless@SG spend more than 3.6 hours a week online.

New revenue source

Both QMax and iCell have said they will increase coverage in town centres and suburban shopping malls.

iCell, for instance, has blanketed hawker centres in Marine Parade, Bedok and Haig Road (near the Paya Lebar MRT station).

A SingTel spokesman also said it would provide the service in areas where there is demand, including the heartland.

As the reach spreads, businesses are also cottoning on to providing value-added services.

At the Tampines Street 11 hawker centre, for example, the wireless network also supports cashless payment terminals which the shops and hawker stalls are using to allow people to pay with ez-link cards.

This means that the three Wi-Fi providers can derive revenue from the network, which goes towards subsidising the service for consumers who get it for free.

"We balance the free service with the paid service for businesses so it is more sustainable," said Ken. "In the end, we want more people to join in the fun."

Six quirky places to surf
Straits Times 29 Jul 09;

1. Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

Where: Neo Tiew Crescent

Not all areas of the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve are covered by the free Wi-Fi network. However, there is a little hut - Main Hide 1A - where you can get Wireless@SG signals.

Located right at the entrance to the reserve, after the welcome area, the shady hut is where you can sit on high benches and surf while gazing into the mudflats frequented by migratory shorebirds.

Some of the species you can spy include the White-throated Kingfisher, the Pacific Swallow and the Little Egret.

Apart from going online to find out more about our feathered friends, park visitors can also post pictures of the birds on their favourite photo sites. There are lots of little bugs and critters though, so do slather on insect repellent.

Another area where you can receive Wireless@SG signals is the Aerie Tower. A 20-minute track from the entrance, the 18m tall tower gives a panoramic view of the nature reserve with views of Johor Bahru.

A word of warning: Outdoor hotspots are more prone to failures because bad weather can disrupt the supply of power needed by the wireless routers. So you might not want to make that trek to the tower with a mission to surf. Rather, just enjoy the view.

2. Marina Barrage

Where: Marina Way

Most people go to the Marina Barrage for the view or the food, or both.

Well, head to the ground-floor restaurant to sip and surf while taking in the sea view or the city skyline under open blue skies.

Located at the Marina Channel, where the Singapore and Kallang rivers meet, the barrage separates sea water from fresh water and also acts as a dam to control water levels in the area to prevent flooding.

3. Library of Botany & Horticulture

Where: Botanic Gardens, Botany Centre

Look through the glass walls into the landscaped gardens of the Botanic Gardens while you surf the Net at the Library of Botany & Horticulture.

Nestled in the Botany Centre in the southern part of the Gardens, the area is tucked away from joggers and the bustle in the park. It is peaceful and quiet.

The building is the high-technology centre of the gardens and we are not just talking Wireless@SG, the free public Wi-Fi service. The Botany Centre also houses the research laboratories where botanists micropropogate orchids with plant tissue culture to grow a large number of plants quickly.

Apart from literature on local flora and fauna, budding gardeners can also check out plant and dried fruit specimens.

4. Bloodbank@HSA

Where: The Health Sciences Authority at Outram Road

Give blood without giving up time on Facebook. At the Bloodbank@HSA, you can surf the Net for free and do good at the same time.

The waiting room, donation suites and refreshment area of the bank are all covered by Wireless@SG. So you can save time by checking on those work e-mail messages or kill time by watching YouTube video clips while waiting for your turn to donate blood.

In order to meet the transfusion needs of hospitals here, the blood bank, with its partner, the Singapore Red Cross, has to ramp up the number of regular blood donors from 1 per cent to 2 by next year. That would mean getting in 300 to 400 donors a day for the 250 to 300 units of blood needed by the hospitals here each day.

The good thing is that there is no shortage of seats here, so you will not have to hover around waiting for people to leave such as in crowded foodcourts.

5. Registry of Marriages

Where: Fort Canning

It might seem counter-productive to provide Wireless@SG at the Registry of Marriages. After all, most people are there to tie the knot or to witness the big event and party later, so they should have no time for the Net.

However, there is nothing wrong with throwing some tech into the nuptial festivities: Couples can share the joy with family and friends who are not present via a webcam, update their Facebook pages right away and post photos of their solemnisation ceremony online.

Other scenarios: A jittery groom could make a desperate dash for football websites if he thinks such activities will be curtailed soon after marriage. Or, the bride, on a hunch, could go online to check if a potential spouse might already be hitched.

6. East Coast Park beach

Where: Near Ski 360 cable ski park

If you are sick of fighting for a seat at coffee joints or libraries just so you can surf for free, the beach offers lots of open spaces where you can get onto Wireless@SG.

The best spots, though, are those near the toilets because the wall is where the wireless routers are mounted on. The reason is that the toilets are the only structures in the vicinity that provide round-the-clock power supply, something which the routers need.

That means you can also surf the Net on your Wi-Fi-enabled mobile phone while answering the call of nature.

Of course, surfing on the beach presents its own problems such as the glare from the sun and the lack of a power source for the laptop. Make sure you pack an extra battery and an anti-glare screen protector or an umbrella.

Wi-Fi at Sungei Buloh but none in Punggol New Town
Straits Times Forum 30 Jul 09;

I REFER to the article in Wednesday's Digital Life "Wi-Fi with the birds".

While I applaud the Government's actions to increase Singapore's free Wi-Fi coverage by extending it to toilets in East Coast Park, various hawker centres and even Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, Punggol New Town which has been touted "a waterfront town of the 21st century" is devoid of any Wi-Fi coverage.

As a resident of Punggol, I am disappointed that our feathered friends have priority when it comes to free Wi-Fi.

Linus Tay