You may have heard of the news that trials are currently underway for Wireless@SG to be installed on buses through a joint partnership of SMRT and M1, albeit the program currently being only limited to just two buses, both of which belonging to service 176 buses.
Though Wifi hasn’t exactly come to our MRT trains, almost every major MRT station now has Wireless@SG connectivity.
By the end of 2015 there were 33 stations with Wifi capabilities, and LTA plans to expand that to every major transport node by 2020, covering all aspects of public transportation.
On the taxi front though, things are way too quiet.
That could soon change, though, if this experiment actually goes mainstream.
Moove Media + NETS = InterNETS?
At the start of July, with help from ComfortDelGro’s advertising arm, Moove Media, NETS launched a highly intriguing campaign. Dubbed ‘InterNETS‘, what basically happened is that they have turned 100 ComfortDelgro taxis into mobile Wifi hotspots by simply installing palm-sized dongles.
No complicated infrastructure needed – these are the same things you use while on holiday.
You can easily spot these taxis on the roads through their special red and white InterNETS liveries on the sides of the 100 taxis.
Flag a taxi, and after getting into one, the log-in process is as simple as opening the door to a taxi to get in.
No lengthy over-complicated passwords here. Simply switch on your phone’s Wifi, select “Free InterNETS” under the list of networks available. You will then be redirected to a NETS splash screen where all you need to do is tap on “Start surfing!”, and you’re good to go.
There is sign-in required as well, so say goodbye to convoluted steps in account creation and filling in your personal particulars.
If the taxi uncle can’t assist you, NETS has got you covered too. Instructional steps to guide you in setting up the Wifi connection is available at the back of the headrests.
With this, NETS doesn’t want you spending your precious mobile data while in the taxi, so you can continue to catch up on social media, or, god forbid, work during your journey.
Like all good things though, there’s a catch. Aside from being only available on only 100 taxis, this campaign will only run up until the end of January 2017. So technically, you have less than 6 months to find one.
The Odds Of Getting One Are Not In Your Favour
According to their website, ComfortDelgro currently has around 17,000 taxis in total (including CityCab) on our roads, and if you’re just looking at Comfort taxis, they number just above 10,000.
This basically means that you only have a 1:100 chance of getting on one with the free Wifi hotspot.
Well, at least with this small marketing effort, taxi operators will realise the value that this adds for their riders, and perhaps, will be enough to swing over Uber and Grab converts should they decide to take this up more permanently.
…But we all know that won’t happen, unless there’s some major price hike to ‘justify’ it.