For real? Free Wi-Fi?
Lea Marie V. Magtira
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The Filipino Watchdog 11:50 AM | Friday, March 27th, 2015
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The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is fixed to implement its free Wi-Fi access project in the country in July.
The project, led by the DOST's Information and Communications Technology office (DOST-ICT), will provide Wi-Fi Internet access to various public spaces in the country.
According to Rappler.com that there will be Wi-Fi that is free to users are provided with 256 kbps of capacity, which is somewhat hampered by the addition of a fair use policy.
Users are set into 3 groups depending on the type of ID they have used to sign into the system, and will get a bandwidth cap equivalent to their level.
Level 1 users get a 50MB daly cap up to 1GB monthly, and have no assurance of consistent 256 kbps connectivity. Level 2 and level 3 users get increasing assurances of connectivity, along with a 100 or 300 MB daily cap that has a limit of 2GB or 3GB, respectively.
This project is funded by a P1.408 billion-budget under the 2015 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
For every 10 percent of internet connection the gross domestic product (GDP) increases about 1.3 percent according to ICT officer spokesperson Roy Espiritu citing World Bank figures.
Even though our country has been branded as the social media capital of the world and the selfie capital of the world it’s bizarre that there is no free Wi-Fi in public spaces. After all, the United Nations declared in 2011 that Internet access is a human right.
Okay let’s face it everyone loves “free”, and everyone loves wireless Internet access. But we can’t help but wonder if it would really work and function well.
Is this for real? Might be your initial reaction regarding the free Wi-Fi. We are now living in a society that almost everyone in the country owns a smart phone, hence it can access Wi-Fi. We are now in the era wherein owning a smart phone is like a necessity for everybody. So we could say that this free Wi-Fi is kind of big deal, the project was funded with roughly a billion budget.
And our concern is, this free Wi-Fi would really work knowing a lot of people would have access to it? Would it really cater to the Filipinos? They consider that free Wi-Fi is a “game-changer” for Filipinos, particularly farmers, fishermen, students, researchers, among others.
At the end of the day we all hope that the billion budget (even though it seems lucrative) allotted for this project would not go to waste. That the internet access would be available for every Filipinos and would be efficient as well. Because this free internet access would be a great help to those who need it. We just really wish that this free Wi-Fi would be a reality in July.
The project, led by the DOST's Information and Communications Technology office (DOST-ICT), will provide Wi-Fi Internet access to various public spaces in the country.
According to Rappler.com that there will be Wi-Fi that is free to users are provided with 256 kbps of capacity, which is somewhat hampered by the addition of a fair use policy.
Users are set into 3 groups depending on the type of ID they have used to sign into the system, and will get a bandwidth cap equivalent to their level.
Level 1 users get a 50MB daly cap up to 1GB monthly, and have no assurance of consistent 256 kbps connectivity. Level 2 and level 3 users get increasing assurances of connectivity, along with a 100 or 300 MB daily cap that has a limit of 2GB or 3GB, respectively.
This project is funded by a P1.408 billion-budget under the 2015 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
For every 10 percent of internet connection the gross domestic product (GDP) increases about 1.3 percent according to ICT officer spokesperson Roy Espiritu citing World Bank figures.
Even though our country has been branded as the social media capital of the world and the selfie capital of the world it’s bizarre that there is no free Wi-Fi in public spaces. After all, the United Nations declared in 2011 that Internet access is a human right.
Okay let’s face it everyone loves “free”, and everyone loves wireless Internet access. But we can’t help but wonder if it would really work and function well.
Is this for real? Might be your initial reaction regarding the free Wi-Fi. We are now living in a society that almost everyone in the country owns a smart phone, hence it can access Wi-Fi. We are now in the era wherein owning a smart phone is like a necessity for everybody. So we could say that this free Wi-Fi is kind of big deal, the project was funded with roughly a billion budget.
And our concern is, this free Wi-Fi would really work knowing a lot of people would have access to it? Would it really cater to the Filipinos? They consider that free Wi-Fi is a “game-changer” for Filipinos, particularly farmers, fishermen, students, researchers, among others.
At the end of the day we all hope that the billion budget (even though it seems lucrative) allotted for this project would not go to waste. That the internet access would be available for every Filipinos and would be efficient as well. Because this free internet access would be a great help to those who need it. We just really wish that this free Wi-Fi would be a reality in July.