Wireless in Singapore... NOT!


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xtemujin

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Apr 1, 2005
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Singapura, Singapore
Wireless in Singapore... NOT!

Posted in Malaysia Explorer by Oon Yeoh on 2009/01/11 00:37:50

I was in Singapore recently for an overnight stay. While waiting for my meeting to start, I hung around at the airport.

I had hoped to do some work using the Wi-Fi at the airport. Surely, Changi - a world-class airport - would have free Wi-Fi (or so I thought).

I asked the info desk where to get free Wi-Fi and they asked me to go to McDonald's. After ordering my food I asked the unfriendly waitress whether the Wi-Fi needed a password. "We don't have Wi-Fi," she replied.

"What?" I asked. "We don't have Wi-Fi," she repeated. "But the info desk said you did," I replied. "No," she replied.

Another customer, probably embarrassed at how incredibly unfriendly the waitress was to me, told me that the whole airport had Wi-Fi but you had to register to get it.

So, I sat down, ate my food and tried to register. I followed the steps, which required me to send an SMS to a SingTel number. I got a username and password which didn't work.

I called the helpline shown at the welcome page for Wireless@SG.

The operator said, "Sorry, we can't help you. You have to call SingTel."

I tried calling but couldn't get through. I then asked around if there was a Starbucks and when I found one, the first thing I asked was "Do you have Wi-Fi?".

"Yes, we do," said the friendly waitress, who should give the McDonald's waitress some customer service lessons.

"Fantastic," I said and turned on my laptop. To my horror, it was Wireless@SG again!

So, I tried the SMS thing again and tried the username and password that they sent back. Again, no luck.

I then tried registering through another service provider. The process did not require SMS-ing and could be done online. "Finally, I can get online," I thought. But I thought wrong.

My username and password would be sent to my e-mail address. Question: How do I access my e-mail if I'm not connected in the first place? Answer: I can't.

In desperation, I called the helpline again. The operator said he would send someone over to help me in 10 minutes. Half an hour later, I decided to give up and took a cab to the city.

All in all, I had wasted well over an hour trying to get onto the Internet at Changi. At KLIA you get online free of charge and with no registration required. This is one area Changi can learn from KLIA.

http://www.zdnetasia.com/blogs/msiaexplorer/0,3800011234,63008304,00.htm
 

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There are free kiosks at Changi Airport that provides free internet usage.
 

Singapore airport seems to have a different system when it comes to this. If you're planning to do some work at the airport while waiting for your flight, FORGET about it.

World class alright...
 

Plenty of possible reasons why the access didn't work for the person but first is blaiming the airport. Great! Such 'reports' are useless noise without proper insight information. Everybody who has worked in IT field service knows that the major source of issues is sitting in front of the screen.
Secondly, one should act carefully connecting to such open and uncontrolled networks with laptops containing business data. If it works that well and fast at KLIA then I question the security for the network.
 

Plenty of possible reasons why the access didn't work for the person but first is blaiming the airport. Great! Such 'reports' are useless noise without proper insight information. Everybody who has worked in IT field service knows that the major source of issues is sitting in front of the screen.
Secondly, one should act carefully connecting to such open and uncontrolled networks with laptops containing business data. If it works that well and fast at KLIA then I question the security for the network.


Im assuming youre in IT. It probably works but why make it so compliated for ordinary people.

By the way, have you actually tried it? I ahd.
 

Plenty of possible reasons why the access didn't work for the person but first is blaiming the airport. Great! Such 'reports' are useless noise without proper insight information. Everybody who has worked in IT field service knows that the major source of issues is sitting in front of the screen.
Secondly, one should act carefully connecting to such open and uncontrolled networks with laptops containing business data. If it works that well and fast at KLIA then I question the security for the network.

CHANGI wireless access SUCKS. OK.


Oh, you ref to logging on to open and uncontrolled networks is totally irreverent.

What insight information do you need? DUH. If I cannot connect in Changi, and my notebook can connect in HKG, Narita, SFO and many other airports, all free all without hassling registration, why can't I connect easily in Changi? If I don't blame Changi, who should I blame?

Wireless@SG is a total farce.
 

Plenty of possible reasons why the access didn't work for the person but first is blaiming the airport. Great! Such 'reports' are useless noise without proper insight information. Everybody who has worked in IT field service knows that the major source of issues is sitting in front of the screen.
Secondly, one should act carefully connecting to such open and uncontrolled networks with laptops containing business data. If it works that well and fast at KLIA then I question the security for the network.

what insight information do I need to realize that accessing information will require me to draw blood from a stone?

security measures are good and effective when used effectively to safe guard vital information. but if the end user just wants to use it to, I don't know... check his Facebook, send some personal emails to request people to pick him up from the airport/put the kettle on for when he is back, does he really need to go all "Get Smart" like in terms of security and the never ending doors that have to open for Maxwell Smart?
 

Plenty of possible reasons why the access didn't work for the person but first is blaiming the airport. Great! Such 'reports' are useless noise without proper insight information. Everybody who has worked in IT field service knows that the major source of issues is sitting in front of the screen.
Secondly, one should act carefully connecting to such open and uncontrolled networks with laptops containing business data. If it works that well and fast at KLIA then I question the security for the network.
Have you tried it yourself? I tried the same thing OUTSIDE the airport, and all the passwords they sent me by SMS all didn't work......I tried it three times (three different passwords) and gave up!

Finally, I managed to find my old one which works......

HS
 

In this forum we are guiding and pointing numerous newbies to read and learn the very basics of photography, telling them that without understanding exposure and other details it is just lucky trial & error to get good pictures. But when it comes to other topics suddenly just clicking on "Connect" buttons on trial & error basis is acceptable?
I do understand user perspective: it has to work, preferable easy and more preferable reading the user's mind in advance. To a certain extend I agree here but in the same way as we know that a car needs petrol and oil service it helps to understand (wireless) networks a bit.
Information required would be: OS, hardware of WLAN adapters (laptop as well as AP), WLAN settings on both sites, additional security features / firewalls / other programs activated. With these information a proper error tracking can be done. The same as we ask people here in forum to leave EXIF intact.
Has anybody filed an official report with Changi airport about this? Or is it just silent complaining here?
Btw: I have tried the wireless access at Changi, it worked on the spot. But that was 3 years ago. Not sure what they have changed in between.
 

sg@wireless service has to improve a lot if they wanna be considered world class, i too was frustrated when they first started -

retrieve password from your email, to log in to sg@wireless....

That was a major facepalm. :bsmilie:


oh to add, while at work some time ago, i had to deal with foreign delegates for events and seminars,
alot of them, and i mean ALOT, needed to work from their laptops or retrieve emails. They were disgusted
that they had to pay a premium price at hotels (5, 6 stars) for internet services (wifi / lan).

We had to arrange for workstations with internet access , and it was just solving the tip of the problem,
lots of them had either password or network problems, or terribly slow speed connection that hotels
couldn't help.

Oh well... hahaha
 

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i have wireless@SG registered long time ago, and i do use my phone to surf at hotspots.

and let me tell you, 1/2 of these hotspots wont even allow me to connect at all, let alone log in.

i gave up, and got myself a mobile broadband plan.

this is what happens when MICA sublets such important infra to some 3rd rate company
 

In this forum we are guiding and pointing numerous newbies to read and learn the very basics of photography, telling them that without understanding exposure and other details it is just lucky trial & error to get good pictures. But when it comes to other topics suddenly just clicking on "Connect" buttons on trial & error basis is acceptable?
I do understand user perspective: it has to work, preferable easy and more preferable reading the user's mind in advance. To a certain extend I agree here but in the same way as we know that a car needs petrol and oil service it helps to understand (wireless) networks a bit.
Information required would be: OS, hardware of WLAN adapters (laptop as well as AP), WLAN settings on both sites, additional security features / firewalls / other programs activated. With these information a proper error tracking can be done. The same as we ask people here in forum to leave EXIF intact.
Has anybody filed an official report with Changi airport about this? Or is it just silent complaining here?
Btw: I have tried the wireless access at Changi, it worked on the spot. But that was 3 years ago. Not sure what they have changed in between.
1) Some idiot probably replaced the working process for something cheaper or "better"
2) Why do we need EXIF information on our pics? Since when did photography become so technical? I thought this was a form or art, not a science.
 

2) Why do we need EXIF information on our pics? Since when did photography become so technical? I thought this was a form or art, not a science.

It is always both. It was a science already when painters in medieval age protected the recipes of their paint mixtures. Many other examples...
 

actually, anyone has experience in other countries?

I have tried in korea, hong kong and malaysia, all about the same standard
how can you complain about free stuff

if i had to pay, that is a different story
 

In this forum we are guiding and pointing numerous newbies to read and learn the very basics of photography, telling them that without understanding exposure and other details it is just lucky trial & error to get good pictures. But when it comes to other topics suddenly just clicking on "Connect" buttons on trial & error basis is acceptable?
I do understand user perspective: it has to work, preferable easy and more preferable reading the user's mind in advance. To a certain extend I agree here but in the same way as we know that a car needs petrol and oil service it helps to understand (wireless) networks a bit.
Information required would be: OS, hardware of WLAN adapters (laptop as well as AP), WLAN settings on both sites, additional security features / firewalls / other programs activated. With these information a proper error tracking can be done. The same as we ask people here in forum to leave EXIF intact.
Has anybody filed an official report with Changi airport about this? Or is it just silent complaining here?
Btw: I have tried the wireless access at Changi, it worked on the spot. But that was 3 years ago. Not sure what they have changed in between.
I have NO firewall switched on, I have no problems connecting to WiFi spots at home or at other places (not Wireless@SG), the problem is that the passwords they sent just don't work in many cases.....

3 years ago w asaround the time they just introduced it in Singapore, and then the level of service was very much higher because they wanted to SHOW it works

HS
 

And the government was supposed to provide a subsidy of $30 million
for the so-called $100m infrastructure.

Does it feel like $100 million to anyone yet? :dunno:

By the way, the "free" Wireless@SG will end in Dec 2009.

IDA Link
 

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