An initiative by Cape Town-based Internet service provider (ISP) Skyrove, to provide free WiFi access at one of the city's historical landmarks, has raised the question of: “When is free really free, or just cheap?”
Earlier this week, Skyrove announced it would provide 10MB of free Internet daily to people visiting the newly revamped Greenmarket Square, the country's oldest public place.
The square hosts a flea-market daily and is surrounded by caf'es, eateries and art galleries. It is within walking distance of the Supreme Court, Parliament and large businesses.
“Businesses on Greenmarket Square will see a significant increase in the number of people lingering in their establishments, as more locals will schedule meetings outside of the office - or linger over coffee - while they enjoy wireless Internet in the cosmopolitan bustle of this 300-year-old heritage space,” says Skyrove CEO Henk Kleynhans.
Kleynhans says the idea is to develop a sustainable model for free public Internet access and that is why Skyrove has committed itself for six months only.
“The problem with free public Internet access is that it is either funded by taxpayer money or by sponsors, and sooner or later funds dry up and then the free service disappears. What we are trying is giving away some free time that should allow most people to download some e-mails, while having a cup of coffee. If they need more time, they can buy it,” he points out.
Skyrove sells data at 40c per megabyte, with the cheapest voucher costing about R8. This can either be bought directly over the Skyrove system, or from caf'es at the square.
Too little
However, some say the free 10MB is just too little to be of any use. A comment on blog site 2oceansvibe.com says: “Wow, with that, I could almost afford to navigate to the Skyrove site to read up on their business, and how I too might make use of their services as a paying client. Almost. But in between my cappuccino and haggling with a hawker, I'd hit the 10MB cap.”
Another comment says: “Although your giving free WiFi is very honourable, if you're going to do it, do it properly, like enough to download mail and read a blog or two. With cheap uncapped ADSL, we are now getting to the point where we leave our WiFi open so others can use it because it doesn't cost us any more anyway.”
Others think this is a good move. “10MB everyday? That's awesome. That is more than enough to check mail, Facebook, Twitter, and maybe even some blogs... everyday.”
“For those who are already paying Skyrove customers, getting 10MB a day at one or maybe two locations can definitely save some cash,” says another contributor to the 2oceansvibe.com site.
Consumer wins
Alan Levin, president of the South African Chapter of the Internet Society, says initiatives such as Skyrove's are good for the consumer and are indicative of the fact that national backbone rates are falling.
“We have seen an increase in competition and a reduction in prices for the consumer. This is great; however, the problem here is that quality of service is still not great,” he notes.
Levin says free WiFi models are generally based on either time or data parameters, with the latter being the better for ISPs and consumers.
“In SA, data is always the better model as quality can be controlled. The problem with time is it averages out everyone's use and so those who spend less time do not get the value of their usage. The problem with a data model is that it is harder to implement technically.”
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