Google's Free Wi-Fi in India Now Live in 100 Railway Stations; 15,000 New Users Connect to Web Everyday (mashable.com) 46
Last year, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced the company will be bringing free Wi-Fi to 100 railway stations in India by the end of 2016. The company began, what was the "the largest public Wi-Fi project in the world", in India earlier this year. Today, it announced its free Wi-Fi has reached 100th Indian railway station in the country. From a report: Google announced Thursday its free Wi-Fi is now working at the 100 busiest railway stations in India. Over five million people in the country latch onto Google's free internet service every month, with 15,000 of them accessing the internet for the first time in their lives every day, the company said. The growth of what Google described as "the largest public Wi-Fi project in the world" is in line with company's expectations. Interestingly, Google has partnered with Indian government-run RailTel ISP for free internet service, and it lets users access as much data as they want and visit whichever website they would like. This is in contrast to Facebook's Free Basics, which offered Indians access to select websites. The Indian government earlier this year banned Free Basics on the grounds of net neutrality. Nobody in India has an issue with Google's approach.
Every -space- day (Score:2, Informative)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:the services are easy to differentiate. (Score:4, Insightful)
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Everybody expects America to NOT be nationalistic, while we are the LEAST nationalistic, with the most open borders.
It is killing us.
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OTOH, if you are like Bill O'Reilly and this is about keep whites supremacy, then nope.
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Google: Hi, Indian government, we'd like to partner w/ you to provide free internet to people at railway stations
Facebook: Hi, Indian government, we'd like to provide some internet for free to people
"Free" | "You keep using that word..." (Score:2)
"Free" for...the users, sure (assuming ticket prices remain constant and there aren't any "station fees" or the like), but who's paying who for what in the "partnership?"
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You are confusing "free" with "gratis", don't you?
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Not really. In English, one word has two meanings. In French, they have two distinct words, libre and gratuit for the speech and beer contexts.
This is a rare example of the amphibian chompers actually getting something right.
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And that gives you an idea of the growth potential for this project
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How are they making money though? And, given that it is Google, what will happen when they unexpectedly close the project, 2-3 years from now?
(still angry about them dropping Picasa!)
oh good; kill projects like google fiber (Score:4)
Way to go google.
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Google is a global company. Why is any country more deserving than another as recipients of Google's projects?
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I'd like to know how successful a "global" company like Google would be without the political weight of the American economy, diplomacy and ultimately, military behind it.
Google owes its success globally to the extent that it can count on the American government to back it up overseas, otherwise it would be just another listening post and censorship arm of a bunch of third world kleptocracies and dictatorships.
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Tell me about the Chinese Internet firms that aren't tapped and wired by the Chinese government. Tell me about the African or any other third world Internet companies of any scale. And no, the Indian railways Internet company doesn't count, either, no matter how many zillions of poor Indians use it.
Nearly all the other companies you list have benefited greatly from either access to the American market or from the Pax Americana that guarantees their freedom to operate, and I would wager nearly all of them
fuck your dirty face, a haiku (Score:1)
fuck your dirty face
with fifteen rusty old spoons
you raw shit burglar
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but extend free wifi in his native India, along with sending most job openings to India.
Way to go google.
India is welcoming them with open arms. Trying to get legal permission to install fiber and give people in the USA decent internet service is an uphill battle. Where do you suggest they should spend their effort? I suspect that they'll get more out of putting their energy someplace that welcomes their input.
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However, the google fiber is a money maker, while the indian wifi is a free give-away. BIG DIFFERENCE.
hmmm.. whichever website you say? (Score:1)
Power of the Internets [indianexpress.com]
PR0N FTW.
I think you mean "every day" (Score:2)
"Every day" means each 24-hour rotation of the globe.
"Everyday" means mediocre.
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... like flies to shit ... (Score:2)
My city has a lovely central park and mild weather all year 'round. Our park is populated with museums, exotic plants, colorful buskers entertaining visitors from around the world, and free wifi.
We also have lots of homeless people. They swarm to the park with their cell phones and chargers to enjoy YooToob and other amusements. There is an uncomfortable discrepancy between the wealthy visitors and the local homeless. We don't quite know how to reconcile that.
India may also see a shift in the mobile populat
How do they handle security/identity? (Score:2)
When I was in India several years ago, it was not possible to get onto the Internet without proof of identity. In order to use a computer at a cyber cafe, I had to provide my passport, whose number was duly recorded in a register along with the beginning and ending times of my session. Considering the terrorism attacks since then, I would expect that practice to continue.
So how is the Google/RailTel access handled? Do people have to provide proof of identity to establish an account? Is it actually open? En
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15,000 (Score:2)
Coincidentally, 15,000 is the number of passengers on the roof of each train.
"Nobody in India" -- oh, really? (Score:3)
That's an extraordinary claim. This requires extraordinary evidence. I doubt you have the evidence to stand behind this. You presented no evidence of this. It reads as if you're saying there are no Indians who understand that it is in Google's interest to continue to offer gratis services which feed a business model built in part on spying thus making their network service a trap.
I hate to be the one to say this... (Score:1)
...But I, personally, deeply dislike this trend of providing easy internet access to large swathes of people from the third world without any thought as to how it might impact the rest of the world.
I don't hate brown people, nor do I hate poor people, but what I do hate is the fact that, as time has gone on, I have consistently seen more and more attempted attacks against the various companies I've worked with originate from these impoverished countries.
Call me a racist, classist, white middle class male al