Google's Free Wifi is Becoming a Way of Life in India

Sushma U N, writing for Quartz: American internet search giant Google has completed the rollout of one of the world's biggest public wifi projects in India. On June 07, Google said it now offers free high-speed public wifi at 400 railway stations in Asia's third-largest economy, in partnership with the government-owned Indian Railways and RailTel, which operates a fibre network along the country's massive network of train tracks. The company had announced the initiative back in 2015 during prime minister Narendra Modi's visit to its headquarters in Mountain View, California. The Mumbai Central station in India's financial capital was the first to get the facility in January 2016. Now, over 8 million people use the service, Google said in a blog post. "On average, people consume 350MB of data per session, roughly the size of a half-hour television episode, and over half of the people using Google Station engage in multiple online sessions a day," the company said.

Uh oh.

[ColdWetDog]

Hey guys, this IS Google. Don't get too attached to this service.

And, for all that is holy, don't let it come out of beta.

Re:

[ShanghaiBill]

Hey guys, this IS Google. Don't get too attached to this service.

Google is paying a price for their engineering cycle of "build-deprecate-kill". They are suffering from employee attrition, as developers realize that nothing they do will ever get out of beta.

Attrition is especially severe at the Waymo subsidiary. Waymo is ahead on the tech, but there are no path to an actual product, so engineers are jumping ship to Uber and elsewhere.

First you get them hooked.

[Kenja]

Then you start exerting control. It's how drug dealing works.

Re:

[Type44Q]

The parent observed that India has too many people and suggested birth control; you're the lightweight who got "triggered."

Re:

[NoNonAlphaCharsHere]

The GP posted a racist screed; you're supporting that by making it sound reasonable.

Re:

[Bert64]

One way or another population control is required, if not voluntary then it will be forced one way or another - either by government, by war, or simply by lack of food causing starvation. We have finite resources available, and a population level that is growing to the point that demand for food will outstrip our ability to produce food.

"First taste is free!"

[Rick Schumann]

..meanwhile, Google is slurping up all the delicious free data all those people are providing, bundling it, and selling it off to the highest bidder -- and likely their primary customer is the Indian government.

If you're being spied on...

[Type44Q]

If you're being spied on by Mr. "Don't Not Be Evil" Schmidt, it's not free.

Re:

[arth1]

I see many people in this situation. Sure, you may have to trade your privacy, but if the opportunity cost is missing out on employment, which would you rather them choose?

That argument doesn't hold water. You can substitute "jewelry" for "privacy" in it, without it changing its meaning. Is that still free by your definition? Or have you already made the assumption that privacy is not worth anything, and are begging the question?

Re:

[jellomizer]

I've always used the internet, telephone or any service where data is out of my direct control figuring that I could be spied upon.

This has been true even in the days before the internet.
If during the 1970's or 1980's I went grocery shopping. Being a reoccurring customer, I could spark interest if I had changed my shopping habits. Private Investigators would watch peoples shopping habits dig in their trash to find clues on what they are investing.

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[bobbied]

Build proper houses with modern plumbing, put in electricity and utilities and then provide jobs that pay a living wage. Why is that so hard for companies? This applies to places in the USA too. (Remember Flint)

I remember Flint.. But I don't think your "solutions" are any better than what's already been tried there.. In Flint, until recently, it was one party ruling the city, county and state governments and you mention companies? There aren't any in Flint anymore. They got run off.

Re:

[Puls4r]

They got run off because the majority of manufacturing plants in Flint were into component manufacturing. Spark plugs, fuel tanks, air cleaners, mass air flow sensors, alternators. At one point GM had close to 42 different plants turning out stuff. EVERY ONE of those plants has gone to overseas businesses in China, Japan, and Taiwan where they turn the stuff out far cheaper. It's that simple. It had nothing to do with the horrible mismanagement of the government of Flint. P.S. - I lived there and work