Free Wi-Fi at shopping malls around Suntec
City
02 September 2006 1721 hrs (SST) 0921 hrs (GMT)
Singaporeans will be able to get free Wi-Fi internet at shopping
malls around Suntec City this month.
The InfoComm Development Authority has set up the service to
coincide with the IMF-World Bank meetings.
It wants to use the promotion as a pilot test before rolling it out
to the whole of Singapore in January.
Shoppers at five malls can access wireless internet at speeds up to
512 kilobytes a second.
The shopping malls are Millenia Walk, Suntec Singapore
International Convention and Exhibition Centre, Suntec City Mall,
Raffles City Shopping Centre, CityLink Mall and Marina
Square.
The IDA is confident the service is stable and Singaporeans will be
able to use it during the busy IMF-World Bank meetings.
Leong Keng Thai, IDA's Deputy Chief Executive/Director General
(Telecoms), said: "We want to get users' feedback on their
experience when they use the free Wi-Fi service - whether they find
it good enough, whether there are any technical issues or
suggestions for improvement. All these can be taken into
consideration when we roll out the islandwide wireless broadband,
come January next year."
But the wireless network is an open network, and the IDA says users
would have to rely on their own security networks like VPN.
Users of the Wi-Fi network will have to go to their wireless
network connection page and choose the Wireless at SG
network.
Once connected, they can double click on the Internet Explorer icon
and it will take users to the network homepage.
The IDA says it has doubled the capacity of the network to handle
the high amount of users expected during the IMF-World Bank
meetings.
But with most networks, the high amount of users can slow the
internet speeds.
The free service finishes at the end of September.
The IDA will use the data gathered to guide the company or
companies which are given the job of setting up the wireless
national network. - CNA/ir
