The number of Wi-Fi enabled laptops and PDAs used in India is still very low.
But that should not be a reason for solution providers to be so cold to the
concept of setting up Wi-Fi hotspots. Whether this service should be free or
fee-based is debatable.
While some people are dreaming of transforming entire neighborhoods and even
entire cities into Wi-Fi zones, businesses and solution providers in India have
not yet woken up to the real benefits of setting up Wi-Fi hotspots. The
exception is probably Bangalore, which is expected to become a giant Wi-Fi zone.
Establishments that have deployed Wi-Fi within their premises themselves are
surprisingly quite indifferent or secretive about what they are doing! Strange,
because unless you tell people about your services, how are they going to come
to you?
I recently visited a few randomly selected Wi-Fi hotspots in Mumbai to take
a close look at the Wi-Fi scene. The results were completely unexpected.
Coffee shop chain with fee-based Wi-Fi
These coffee shops charge you Rs 50 for a scratch card with a Username and
Password to use the Wi-Fi service. They sell you the card even when the service
is down and say that the problem lies with your laptop. "There must be
something wrong with your laptop," I was told. They finally accepted that
the service was down. "I am sorry, we can't refund your money, come again
tomorrow and use the card" is the response I got after they accepted the
failure at their end.
Coffee shops with free Wi-Fi
This chain provides free Wi-Fi at a few select locations. When I walked into
one of their shops, I didn't see any signage or a poster announcing the free
Wi-Fi service. The person in-charge of the shop had no idea what Wi-Fi was and
he was not aware if they did have such a service available at the shop! When I
called a senior manager at their Mumbai office; he informed me that I was at the
right place and I could use the Wi-Fi Service absolutely free.
Shopping mall with free Wi-Fi
This place has a lot of posters all over the mall announcing the
availability of a free Wi-Fi service in the food court. The Wi-Fi was working
well.
On the way out, when I stopped at the reception counter to say "Thank
you for the free Wi-Fi", one of their senior managers was present at the
counter. When I told him that I intended to write an article about the Wi-Fi
scene in Mumbai and requested him for some information about their Wi-Fi set up,
he immediately blocked any further conversation, saying "Sorry, sir, we are
not allowed to divulge any information about what we do here. Not that I don't
trust your word, but you could be coming from another mall as well, trying to
get information from us." I left the place visualizing myself as a spy from
another mall, trying to steal highly confidential information abut the Wi-Fi
technology deployed at the food court.
Why the secrecy
Wi-Fi deployment is not some rocket-science, which needs to be kept under veils
and protected from your competitor's spies. Setting up a small or medium sized
Wi-Fi hotspot is almost a plug and play affair. Solution providers who can set
up a computer network can set up Wi-Fi hotspots for their customers in a matter
of few hours.
All you need is an 'always-on' ADSL Internet connection from an ISP like MTNL,
BSNL, Bharti, Reliance or Tata Indicom, whichever works well in your area; and a
set of wireless equipment form networking products manufacturers like D-Link,
ZyXEL, Netgear or SMC. A wireless set up has its biggest natural advantage. No
cables running across the whole place!
Gateway of Wi-Fi
Advantage of an 'always-on' Internet connection is that you don't pay
anything extra for providing the shared Internet to your customers or visitors.
The ADSL modem that is required for connecting to the ADSL service comes with an
Ethernet port to connect with your computer. When you are setting up a Wi-Fi
hotspot, this port gets connected to the hotspot Gateway instead of connecting
directly to the computer. The hotspot Gateway takes care of everything else.
The Gateway will generally have at least three Ethernet ports—one for
the public Wi-Fi service, one for the private LAN and one for connecting to the
ADSL modem or router. There can be more ports depending on the features of the
Gateway. This way, the computers on your private LAN remain isolated from the
Wi-Fi hotspot users, so that they can't peep into your LAN. This is essential if
you are offering free Wi-Fi to visitors sitting in the reception area of your
corporate office or in a conference room.
Some Gateways have a built-in access point function to provide the wireless
connection to the users. If the Gateway doesn't have a built-in AP function, you
will require an external access point to be connected to the Ethernet port
provided for the public Wi-Fi service. Once this is connected, you are ready to
offer the Wi-Fi service to wireless users. Most of the new laptops now come
equipped with wireless capabilities and can immediately detect the presence of a
wireless access point in the area.
Do-it-yourself!
The Gateway can be configured and managed through a web interface from a
computer connected to the private LAN. The Gateway will allow you to create
users, usernames and passwords. The 'Getting Started' manuals of the Gateways
are full of detailed instructions and screen-shots, which allow you to set up
the Gateway very easily.
You can also create a dedicated Login Page, which is automatically pushed
into the browser window of a user sitting inside the Wi-Fi Zone as soon as he
opens the browser. Once the user logs in, he is free to browse the Internet. A
Logout Page opens and remains in the background.
Setting up a free Wi-Fi hotspot is a good idea for businesses and corporate
offices, where visitors are expected to carry their own laptops. It's not very
expensive and the PR benefits are tremendous. Five-star hotels are the only
places where they can charge high fees for using the Wi-Fi services at the
moment. Other places have to be either low cost or free.
Business establishments and corporate offices can derive tremendous PR
benefits and goodwill from free Wi-Fi services that can be much more valuable
than charging a fee for the Wi-Fi. Compared to the money people spend on
furniture and paintings in the reception areas of their corporate offices, the
cost of a simple hotspot Gateway is just peanuts.
The author is an independent consultant, and can be reached at dongre@usa.net