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Stay connected: Free Wi-Fi in CBD soon, across B'lore next [Bangalore] [Times of India](Times of India Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Bangalore: Smart Bangalore is getting smarter: the tech-savvy city will be the first in India to offer free Wi-Fi to citizens, allowing seamless Internet connectivity in all corners. The pilot facility will first go live in the CBD areas, including MG Road, Corporation, Majestic, Infantry Road and Shivajinagar and some other areas. It will come as a boon to GenNext, wired to smartphones, tablets, netbooks, laptops and other gadgets, and the tag of IT City will ring truer. "Six wireless networking companies have shown interest in executing the project after we invited expression of interest last month. Hopefully, we'll take a month to finalize it,'' said IT, BT and science and technology minister SR Patil. The system will be in operation in the CBD areas in four months, and will be the first step towards making Bangalore a smart and connected city, he claimed. Earlier this year, Bangalore became the first city in the country to provide free Wi-Fi service to the public at certain business hubs. In January, free Wi-Fi (Namma Wi-Fi) was first launched on MG Road and Brigade Road. After its success, the facility was expanded to other parts of the city, targeting business hubs and bus terminals, and is now available in over a dozen hotspots. The ICT group in the Karnataka IT department had taken up this initiative. Not everyone, though, is impressed with the hot offer. "Namma Wi-Fi is awful and doesn't really help. It takes five minutes to get connected and sometimes, we have to shuffle several access points to even get the signal,'' said Harish S, a frequent Wi-Fi user on Brigade Road. "It makes no sense using Wi-Fi for 30 minutes a day. The government should look to provide at least three hours of service at various intervals every day,'' said Ragini Bhave, an executive working with a business firm on MG Road. However, an officer overseeing Namma Wi-Fi maintained the sheer number bogs down the system, with users simultaneously competing for a stable connection from different access points. The access point facilitates communication between the devices and the wireless centre. It's an ambition the government is attempting to fulfil, having launched a free Wi-Fi hotspot at Bagalkot, the IT minister's home district. "We're planning to cover the entire central business district and extend it in a phased manner. We are also offering the service in other major cities of the state,'' Patil said. FREE FOR ALL * Namma Wi-Fi is made available by D-Vois, a private broadband service provider; the cap per user is fixed at 30 minutes for every 24 hours * Namma Wi-Fi is accessible to Internet users who register their mobile numbers, through which they receive an eight-digit authentication password. With a network speed of 512 kbps, a user is able to use up to 50 MB data per day * In April, the number of devices logged in on the entire network at one instance peaked at 240. In August, the number touched 500 devices (c) 2014 Bennett, Coleman & Company Limited |