You Know How Tech Savvy a Country is by Their Internet Connection

Yesterday, a conversation with Michael Cheng prompted me to write about the state of Wireless@SG in Singapore. To me, there is still a long way to go, and if the government is really serious about getting a technology culture growing in Singapore, the first thing they really need to do is to fix Wireless@SG. Yes, I am joining the group who are complaining about Wireless@SG.

There is the sorry state of Wireless@SG as depicted nicely by James Seng (see picture below from him) and DK in the past week. In fact, we have now a few places on the list where internet connection is virtually non-existent: Funan Centre, Bishan Junction 8 and Rochester Park.

Actually, we can't blame the government for these failed Wireless@SG. However, they should at least get their response quick upon hearing from James Seng who took the time to inform them. Instead, we don't even know whether the vendors are aware of the problem. The lack of response is seriously appalling and if not, it demonstrated clearly how we are trying to look tech savvy but we are not.

Look, in San Francisco, you can get online virtually anywhere. If we are serious about promoting a technological culture, we better start with fixing the Wireless@SG debacle first. Why is the internet connection important? Most internet business are getting more and more mobile, particularly in the web 2.0 industry, where online access is an important feature of the whole thing. No longer that I need to be physically elsewhere to meet my business partners in US, instead I have the internet  to call people on skype and have a quick discussion to move forward with our projects.

Surprisingly, Michael's vodaphone broadband adaptor is far better in getting net connection as compared to the failed Wireless@SG. According to him, you can purchase it from any M1 store. I feel like getting one instead of relying on betting that there is wireless connection around. At least, it is an alternative solution to what we have at the moment: contacting the vendors (who don't seem to care) to fix the problem.

Comments

[Pandemonium]

The other day when my home router kicked the bucket, I tried to connect to Wireless@SG so that I can surf the web. Although it appeared in the list of detected wireless networks on my Ubuntu, the signal was weak and it could not obtain an address. I suppose it's because 1) I live far away from the city, in Kovan, and 2) I'm sandwiched between two opposition constituencies.

Okay, jokes aside (though my non-connection was true), I think there should be a need to get it fixed. Just as I expected when I first heard the announcement, the network coverage at first is poor, with loopholes here and there, and poor or intermittent connections in many areas. But I do expect this to be fixed, if the government doesn't want Singapore to be laughed at by the global online community.

However, the efforts of the government at pushing for a connected nation is actually laudable, which is now evident to me that I am in another country. For example, you can get free wireless (though there is a need to sign up) at various locations, and Internet is quite cheap and even free in some institutions like NUS. In contrast, in Canberra where I'll be having my exchange at the Australian National University for the next half year, Internet connection at cafes is expensive - typical charges is A$5 an hour - and I only know of two locations where there is free wireless - a restaurant in the city and the ANU library. I'm not sure about the former but the latter has slow and intermittent connections. The broadband in the ANU campus and hostels, unlike at NUS, is charged at 7 cents per MB, though, truth be told, it may be better for the students as it discourages us from the evils of Youtube.

So actually, Singapore is doing rather well in terms of connecting the nation to the web. It just needs to put more effort in fixing those leaking taps.

[Brennan]

We're blessed with technology, but only some are willing to do exploration within the given constraints to discover how we can push the limits. Like Bittorent, for example.

Thing about corporations in general is that they know what are the possibilities with which new technology holds. These possibilities may potentially cease the profit which dated technologies hold, the latter of which the corporations tend to have a stronghold.

And so they clamp down, use a wait-and-see approach and intermittent price adjustments to keep their profits up as long as they can.

[Michal]

There is a difference between users and the service providers, namely:

Users are mostly "tech savvy"
Providers are mostly "profit savvy"

just call any tech support and you probably understand how tech savvy they are ... or

just pay for the service and you would have a much better chance of getting a better service.

so there's no common objective :)

[Joseph]

I was recently in San Francisco, and I think you're mistaken about getting 'online virtually everywhere'. In downtown San Fran, all the wireless hotspots are all locked up by providers, and you have to use your credit card to purchase a 24-hour pass for at least USD 10 even if you want to like, search Google Maps just for 10 minutes.

Outside downtown, there's virtually no coverage at all, you can find them only in hotels and Starbucks - again, you have to purchase a 24-hour pass. But notably, once you purchase the pass, the internet speed is commendably fast.

At least, in Singapore, it's free. Even though the speed is gawdawfool. For now.

[DK]

It would be good if they are virtually non-existance. We could even come up with a list of places where the wireless@sg is always down. But it's not possible for us to come out with a list.

It REALLY depends alot on your luck for connection. No internet connection today doesn't mean no internet connection few hours later.