Andre

After "oceanpark" and "disneyland" comes "wifi wonderland". I wonder what will be the next title for Hong Kong. According to the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA), 5,228 Wi-fi hotspots had been installed at 3,055 locations through the city, making it an international leader in providing wireless broadband.

This is nice for those in need of a quick online session but it's not to be confused with other technologies like mobile phone network-based such as 3G. WiFi restricts you to your currently logged-in hotspot and moving away from it will get you disconnected. Furthermore, WiFi is quite a "fragile" radio signal such as a simple wall may reflect or break the signal with ease. Navigating within the theoretically operational radius becomes a challenge in a concrete and steel environment.

I've been playing with PCCW WiFi and it's rather frustrating at times. There might be no place to sit down or at least to put your gadgets if they are larger than anything handheld, or you move within the (assumed) same hotspot (like an MTR (subway) station) but only after changing levels you notice you got disconnected because the concourse is a different hotspot than the platform.

I love the "WiFi anywhere" idea and it certainly adds more convenience and new possibilities to life but I'm rather looking forward to change my local mobile subscription plan to use 3G for stuff like a quick picture upload from really (!) anywhere I want.