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 trans forming 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

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