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WiFly? Why not?

Taipei City government may have rolled out plenty of WiFi stations, but the take-up rate has been less than enthusiastic. PHOTO COURTESY OF TAIPEI CITY GOVERNMENT

Customers at Cafe Lumiere near National Taiwan University could use WiFly, Taipei's highly regarded wireless Internet network. But they don't. Though a WiFly transmitter, or access point, hangs from a street lamp a few meters from the cafe's veranda, Lumiere pays for its own wireless Internet service, which it lets customers use for free.

When asked why he doesn't use WiFly to connect his laptop to the Internet, Christopher Findler, a freelance translator for whom Lumiere's veranda serves as a kind of outdoor office, said the network's monthly payment plan, roughly the price of three cups of coffee, was too expensive. "Why would I want to pay for it when I can get it for free," he said.

Across the street it's the same story. Cafe Bastille and Cuckoo cafe (杜鵑咖啡餐館), on Lane 86 of Xinsheng South Road Section 3 (新生南路三段86巷), are within the same WiFly access point's range, but both provide free wireless Internet connections for their customers through Chunghwa Telecom (中華電信). Around the corner at the Barista Coffee (西雅圖咖啡) branch, customers with laptops surf the Internet through Free-Up, a network that has its own access points installed in cafes throughout the city and charges users less than WiFly.

Lane 86 provides a snapshot of the problems bedeviling WiFly, part of the city government's "M-City," or mobile city, project that aims to turn Taipei into the world's first wireless city. Q-ware Systems and Services Corp (安源資訊), the Internet provider that built and runs WiFly, predicted the network would have 250,000 users by the end of last year. But according to Taipei City government estimates, less than half that number are currently signed up. Cities around the world, from Singapore to London, are watching WiFly's progress. With a gadget-crazy citizenry, dense population and high rates of computer use (85 percent of local households own a computer), Taipei enjoys ideal conditions for such a network. If this corporate-city joint venture fails here, the model might not work anywhere else. (When contacted for an interview, a Q-ware executive said the company had instructed employees not to speak to the media about WiFly.)

WiFly's smaller-than-expected user base is not the result of poor coverage. There are now more than 4,300 street access points across the city, a number that includes wireless routers in coffee shops, MRT stations and stores, along with thousands of outdoor transmitters decorated with whimsical metal laurels like those on street lanterns. It's relatively easy for most people to find a hot zone, or place where you can get a connection, since 80 percent of Taipei City's 2 million residents live within the 10km by 13km area that stretches from Wanhua (萬華) to Xinyi (信義) and Shilin (士林) to Muzha (木柵). Look toward the top of a traffic light or every third or fourth lamppost on a major street and you'll see the "little lanterns" (小燈籠), as former Taipei City mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) called them. They have a range of 100m in each direction, though this diminishes if the signal passes through a building. (To find a hot zone near you, go to www.wifly.com.tw.)

Nor is it because the network is difficult to use. Even a foreigner who only speaks English can apply for a subscription online at WiFly's completely bilingual Web site, as long as he or she has a credit card and two forms of ID. Or, much easier, anyone can walk into a 7-Eleven, IS Coffee, Starbucks or the Taipei Arena (台北巨蛋), buy a scratch-off card that works like a prepaid telephone card and log in. The cards cost NT$100 for unlimited access within 24 hours, or NT$500 for unlimited 30-day access. Easier still, if you have an Internet account with a provider like Chunghwa Telecom or Sony subsidiary So-net, you can automatically connect to WiFly and be billed through your provider's account.

So why aren't people using Wifly? Liang Shih-shin (梁世興), a planner at the city government's Research Development and Evaluation Commission, listed several reasons. Two are specifically local: the price might be too high, and Taipei's hot and humid summers discourage outdoor computer use. More important, WiFly is just one part of a hybrid network that includes mobile phone service, in-home Internet and cable television accounts. Usage will increase as these networks form joint ventures and combine billing and other services, such as allowing So-net users who own Sony's handheld PSP game console to play online games outside through WiFly. The network will become more powerful once it adds WiMax technology, the next wireless network standard. And most important, what Liang called the "killer device," a handheld gadget that combines the functions of a mobile phone, MP3 player, PDA and personal computer — perhaps something like Apple's recently unveiled iPhone — has yet to come into widespread use.

Another problem is that there are many alternatives. For example, Netwell Technology Co's (鉅坤科技股份有限公司) Free-Up runs 120 access points and sells scratch-off cards at 51 locations in Taipei, including 20 Barista Coffee shops, eight Lavazza cafes, and Taipei 101. And in shopping malls and places where there are lots of cafes, laptop users can choose a hangout that offers free wireless access over a place that offers WiFly or a competing network.

In spite of these obstacles, WiFly is steadily gaining new customers. Down Lane 86 from Cafe Lumiere at Wenzhou Park (溫州公園), it's becoming increasingly common to see people using WiFly to surf the Web or talk to friends through Internet phone service Skype. Hanging above the park are three "little lampposts," and the nearby IS Coffee branch has a WiFly router and, a barista said, sells around five WiFly cards a week. When these sell out, as they often do, customers can purchase cards at the 7-Eleven around the corner on Roosevelt Road (羅斯福路).

Citywide, WiFly had 40,000 users at the beginning of last year, now it has 110,000. And earlier this month, Q-ware Vice President Chang Sheng (張聖) told the Taipei Times WiFly's user base should grow to 300,000 by the end of 2007. That, coincidentally, is around the time iPhone is expected to make its Taiwan debut.

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