Monday, October 07, 2013

Make it easy to use Wireless@SG

Printed in the Straits Times Forum, 7 Oct 2013
THE Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) has said that there is no more government funding for the Wireless@SG hot spot network ("Wireless hot spot deployment: IDA replies"; last Friday).
I am surprised that this service, which is useful to students and low-income people, is not funded by the Government. The cost of this service should be quite modest compared to the many expensive projects that are undertaken by IDA.
During the earlier phase of the project, the sign-in process was handled by several operators using their own interfaces. This caused a big problem for people who had to log in to the hot spots provided by other operators.
In the next phase, it is better for IDA to find an operator to manage a common sign-in service that can be used seamlessly across different types of devices.
The proposed sign-in process using SIM-based authentication, which is expected to be launched next April, is useful for devices with SIM cards, but may not work with other mobile devices.
It is better to find a simple and effective system that can work across all devices, especially one that can be implemented quickly and with less expense and technical risk.
Tan Kin Lian
 

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