I was at Raffles City Starbucks last week when a Korean tourist approached me and asked if there is free internet service here. I told her that we have a free internet service call Wireless@sg. All she needs is to register at the login page.
Minutes later, she approached me again and asked how to register. So I guided her along the registration process until we stumble upon something. You need to have a local mobile phone number in order to register for a Wireless@sg account.
Hello?!?! What is the chances of a tourist having a +65 mobile phone number? Why aren’t they allowed to register with their telephone number from their country?
Wireless@sg registration for tourist is rather tedious and troublesome. A Malaysian journalist from ZDnet Asia wrote about his ‘registration experience’ with Wireless@sg at Changi Airport early this year. No prize for guessing if he managed to login to our Nation’s Next Generation National Infocomm Infrastructure initiative.
Perhaps we can take a leaf out of Malaysia’s Wireless@kl book. Tourist can register for an account at Wireless@kl website before visiting Malaysia. The activation code is send to your mobile number and you don’t need a Malaysian mobile phone number to register for Wireless@kl. My Singapore mobile number works fine.
Look at Singapore’s Wireless@sg. We don’t even have a dedicated page for Wireless@sg. We have 3 separate registration page run by 3 operators. Won’t that add on to more confusion for the tourist? And none of them allow you to register if you don’t have a Singapore mobile phone number. If you are a tourist without a Singapore mobile phone, you can register at Changi Airport’s information counters. Seriously? Like if I’m at Raffles City at midnight and I need to use Wireles@sg, I have to go down to Changi Airport to register for an account? And what is the information counter’s opening hour?
If IDA is serious about allowing tourists/visitors use wireless@sg, I think they need to seriously re-look into the registration process. Else, please remove the link for tourist to register a wireless@sg account.
So in the end, the Korean tourist couldn’t register a Wireless@sg account. I have to login my account on her netbook so that she could send email back to her family and friends in Korea.
I hate to admit but wireless@sg is really a hassle to use.
.-= Han Cheng´s last blog ..Singapore Esplanade Theatre =-.
wireless@sg sucks!!!!
YEAH it’s not tourist-friendly. BAH They should be more generous in offering such services for Singapore to be a top-notched tourist destination.
.-= Eevon´s last blog ..Launch of INQ Mobile! =-.
Wireless@SG is a pain to use, even after registered. It automatically logs you out after what? 3 minutes of inactivity? I get tired of having to constantly log back in. At the minimum, 30 minute leases should be issued, regardless of activity.
.-= Brad F.´s last blog ..Chinese Laundry =-.
I agree with what you said. Wireless@SG is not user friendly. I tried to registred and was directed to different webpage (3 different operator). My local friend told me there is a website for registration and when I showed him 3 different websites, he was confused too. re-login every 3 minute inactivity is a pain in the butt. As Inmo said…. Wireless@SG SUCKS!!
I have similar experience as well. It is so difficult to get a connection after sign-on.
It seems the network is congested in a key hotspots areas like Raffles Place, Suntec etcs.
Inforcomm have to rethink of strategy on WIFI to cater for greater number of users.
It is frustrating to see a large investment did not make everyone happy here.
I’m a swiss tourist. Now, I’m trying for 2 days to enter in this dam..d wireless@sg. I travelled now for 4 weeks in Malaysia, and never had this trouble like here. Please Singapore, make your nice city more confortable with a usefull wireless. thanks!
Disappointed greetings
from a swiss tourist
Yeap wireless@sg is really a pain to use and most of the time can hardly get any bandwidth at all. Lousy implementation lah IDA.
What a hassle. The City of Technology is a rip of for Internet Access or Simply Not Working like wireless@sg. And as a Tourist there is no Information on free wifi whatsoever. Singapore Needs to work on this.
Tourists can register a temporary Wireless@SG account fairly easily by sending an SMS to one of the providers. I’ve been doing this for years (as recently as December 2010); I’ve described how to do this at http://www.cricketmx.com/articles/read/how-to-use-wireless-sg-wifi-internet-in-singapore-if-you-are-a-traveller/
@battye unfortunately your recipe no longer works (good find, though) – now they require a local mobile number to register – just tried it now :( i guess you could buy a prepaid SIM and then follow the same path
i went to the first sg gp 2008 and i was able to register online while i was still at home(PHILIPPINES) before the wireless@sg website could accept any mobile number, i just used the address of my hotel and my passport number and my philippine mobile number
it seems they have blocked this on purpose so tourist have to buy a sim when the get to sg
it sucks coz they knew and they made it harder on purpose, its a step backwards for financial gain way to go sg
i think i found the reason why its harder to register now
http://www.tech65.org/2009/11/17/why-tourists-probably-cant-register-for-wirelesssg-online/
i think i agree with the answer of this article
I am at Changi right now and I can tell you that the information counter is only giving out 4 hour passes good in the airport only now. At least this is what they told me twice. The only other option is to buy a local SIM. Pointless. Tourists cannot even register for an account anymore it seems. What a disappointment!