Sunday, October 15, 2006

Wireless@SG

Singapore's gonna become a giant hotspot next year under the Wireless@SG programme. During the first two years, the basic packages provided by iCell, QMax and Singtel will be free. Thereafter the companies have the option of continuing the free service should they choose to.

The targeted users of this wireless broadband network are broadly classified as "people on the move". Indeed...Anyway, I decided to think what are the likely news that will arise following the start of this programme.

I feel that it's totally unfair that Starhub and M1 are out of the market. Right now, VoIP is so huge and heavy internet users all have a Skype account. True to the site's motto, The Whole World CAN Talk For Free. Singtel will get a chunk of the market together with iCELL and QMax. As it is now, some phone owners are already replacing normal phones with VoIP-ready phones.

There oughta be a whole lot more public irritants as well.

Besides VoIP users using "Skype on the move", there will be those who will use the wireless broadband for "porn on the move" and start watching downloadable porn or surf porn sites on the move. It'll be "sexual harrasment on the move" as well cause imagine having to sit next to a group of smelly teens crowding around a laptop trying to catch a glimpse of some internet porn star. Then there might be those late night rides where the chee kor pek opposite shows some innocent girl what he was viewing on his PDA. Even when this is done in privacy, we should expect public toilets for males to have queues forming. Not a common sight.

Other irritating possible scenarios will be "video chat on the move" where people just start using webcam in the public and start chatting really loudly about how boring the train/bus ride is. Complaining how people around him are looking at him weirdly. Probably more laptop/pda robberies as well.

But still it'll be cool to have wireless broadband around the town centres in Singapore. So you can check product reviews, get information on where to eat, know the best prices for goods and services...cool.

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