Wireless@KL

I came across this WirelessKL.com quite sometime ago from InTech, I did not really bother to read the details during that time as I believe it's another clone of Wireless@SG in Singapore (as usual, we Malaysian like to be copycat including myself). But now is different story, I will be always attached with my new toy Wind. The Wind wouldn't be much sexier if without the Internet, so free wifi service is one of the "tasks" that I asked myself to accomplish, beside the other few like 3G wireless etc.

The P1's (or PacketOne) advertisement on today's paper recalled my blurry memory about WirelessKL. So I wandered to the site just now to find more about the service. On the homepage, the Flash played for a while and showed "Anytime Anywhere FREE" bla bla bla like snapshot above. I am very skeptical to FREE stuff in this BullehLand and I always believe there is no free meal at least in this country. Then I took sometime to read through the About, and there you go...

So, it's FREE for 2 years ONLY. The questions I have were "When is the 2-year period? From the date I signed up or from the service commencement date? And what's next after 2 years?" Anyhow, it doesn't really matter how long is the "free period", I would find another alternative when no more free service, and possibly WiMax is available by that time. I also read through the details of the T&C at the bottom of the page. As expected, the clauses put the service users into deep shit if something fishy really happens between the service provider and subscribers like me, except section 7.1 as below that convinced me to register, it's really free. So "don't-care-so-much" attitude ruled me, I went ahead to register myself. Ha! I was a bit excited 'cause my ID is available, meaning not many people sign up!

While waiting for the activation email, I browsed through the site and looked for service coverage. Hmm... not encouraging at all, most of the areas are "coming soon". But I don't really have any expectation on it (since I live in Malaysia mah), it's just another alternative that would come handy if I really urgently looking for connection at the service hotspot area. But if you are mobile and frequently hang around the areas, there is no harm to register though, just another option to pick when free wifi is not available and when you need it most.

I anticipate this probably just an initial phase of WiMax infrastructure setup by P1 (they are also the service provider of WirelessKL). If you are into this topic, you probably know P1 is the largest WiMax implementor in Malaysia and will be the first to deploy the technology soon or later (it has been postponed from June 08). Part of WiMax is the wifi technology, so it is no surprise to me that those registered users of WirelessKL.com will be offered a chargeable service contract in the future when WiMax is available.

We shall see...