webfact Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 Google offers free public Wi-Fi By JINTANA PANYAARVUDH THE NATION Ben King, country director for Google Thailand, announces a range of initiatives to support Thailand's digital economy. GOOGLE Thailand yesterday launched a series of initiatives, including free high-speed public Wi-Fi, to enable more Thai consumers and businesses to participate in the growth of the digital economy. The initiatives were announced at the first Google for Thailand event, held in Bangkok under the theme “Leave no Thai behind”, aimed at promoting equality of digital access. Ben King, country director of Google Thailand, said at the event that the Google’s initiatives would span across the four pillars: access, education, content and products and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). “They were designed to ensure that all Thais would have opportunities and know-how to access technology and use it to build livelihoods,” he said. King said Thailand is rapidly growing digital economy. He showed a projection of digital economic opportunity in Thailand worth US$37 billion, while the opportunity in Southeast Asia is US$200 billion. Moreover, Thailand is No 5 for average peak connection speed, or 106 MB per second. Ranking first is Singapore, followed by Hong Kong, South Korea, and Qatar, according to Akamai Technologies, a content delivery network and cloud service provider. Thailand is second for highest mobile Internet adoption in Asean, having 90 per cent of 3G/4G coverage across the country. The event was also attended by Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, who delivered a speech on the vital role that digital technology will play in achieving the government’s 20-year national strategic plan. However, he urged netizens to learn how to use the benefits of digital technology but not be used by it. One of the highlights launched yesterday was Google Station, a high-speed public Wi-Fi programme undertaken in Thailand, in partnership with CAT Telecom, sponsored by Unilever. Google Station will start in 10 venues across Bangkok and in two provinces, Pichit and Loei, and will be expanded to other parts of the country in the coming months, allowing more Thais to access a free and reliable Internet connection, said Anjali Joshi, vice president of product management. Currently, locations available for the free Wi-Fi services in Bangkok include Hualamphong train station and Megabangna shopping mall. To register, people should go to @FreeGoogleStation-CAT Wi-Fi system and enter their mobile number and name. Thailand is the fourth country to have Google Station, after India, Indonesia and Mexico. King also announced the construction of the Academy Bangkok – A Google Space, a digital skills training facility at True Digital Park in Bangkok. It will open later this year and will be a new training venue for participants of the Google Ignite programme, a two-month digital marketing training course that prepares university students for careers in Thai companies. Google also introduced a new feature, Motorbike Mode, for Google Maps in Thailand. Krish Vitaldevara, product lead for Google Maps, said the new feature will help Thailand’s 20 million motorcyclists to plan routes taking into account shortcuts and narrow roads that only motorbikes and scooters can take and offers more accurate travel times that reflect motorbike speed. To support Thailand’s ever-growing YouTube community, Mukpim Anantachai, head of YouTube partnership, YouTube Thailand, said the company would relaunch the YouTube Pop-Up Space in Bangkok in November to give Thai creators access to state-of-the-art production facilities. During the announcement, Mukpim also unveiled a new data plan in partnership with AIS. It will offer unlimited data packs at Bt59 per month for YouTube Go, an app that allows viewers in Thailand to watch and share YouTube videos even with slow or no Internet connection. Lastly, Google Thailand announced collaboration with Siam Commercial Bank to allow SMEs to sign up and be verified for Google My Business, a free business listing on Google Search and Google Maps, through SCB personnel who will visit SMEs at their stores. Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/business/30350340 -- © Copyright The Nation 2018-07-19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kotsak Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 10 minutes ago, webfact said: Krish Vitaldevara, product lead for Google Maps, said the new feature will help Thailand’s 20 million motorcyclists to plan routes taking into account shortcuts and narrow roads that only motorbikes and scooters can take and offers more accurate travel times that reflect motorbike speed. I assume that includes driving on pavements or against the traffic flow as well ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davehowden Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 Meanwhile in other news: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-44858238 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooked Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 We were promised free Wifi everywhere about five years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canopy Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 1 hour ago, webfact said: Thailand is No 5 for average peak connection speed, or 106 MB per second. Thailand has some good fiber speeds these days, but it doesn't sound right the average person can get nearly a gigabit of bandwidth (106 * 8). Even 106Mbps is hard to imagine as a national average. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Lawrence Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 So how is the cut delivered up the line? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vacuum Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 There's no such thing as "free" when google is involved..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesofa Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 2 hours ago, cooked said: We were promised free Wifi everywhere about five years ago. I'm sure nothing's changed. I bet now they're still promising in five years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mekko Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 Google WIFI implemented by the incumbent CAT telecom? ? All CAT wifi hotspots - airport and the free government ones are terribly slow and unreliable, never had one work properly for longer than a few seconds. SCB to aid businesses listing on Google ? Please bring every document you've ever had, we'll photocopy each one eight times, you sign each one, we'll scan each one, we'll type each one into a computer, and come back in 3-5 days once we've faxed ? to head office, they will print it, scan it, and send it back to you and so on... Thailand 4.0 Pointless press release, thanks for morning laughs though Ben... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carabaothai Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 Nothing free for Google Like we say "if it is free.. YOU are the product" : https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-44858238 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatOngo Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 1 hour ago, Vacuum said: There's no such thing as "free" when google is involved..... Don't we let them spy on us for free? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebell Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 2 hours ago, canopy said: Thailand has some good fiber speeds these days, but it doesn't sound right the average person can get nearly a gigabit of bandwidth (106 * 8). Even 106Mbps is hard to imagine as a national average. I pay TOT for 30 mbs. That's what I pay for; I rarely achieve it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artisi Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 3 hours ago, kotsak said: I assume that includes driving on pavements or against the traffic flow as well ? Google's navigation computer system will crash trying to maintain the amount of correction to direction data that will require to be constantly sent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canuckamuck Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 4 hours ago, webfact said: Google offers free public Wi-Fi All the better to spy on you with my dear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vacuum Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 5 minutes ago, canuckamuck said: All the better to spy on you with my dear. Yes, imagine google as your isp. Must be a wet dream for them if this goes thru. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quandow Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 5 hours ago, Vacuum said: There's no such thing as "free" when google is involved..... AMEN!!! Do a Google search on the word "idiot" THEN do the same search on DuckDuckGo.com and see how Google is manipulating their results. I have to admit, though, THIS particular search IS kinda funny . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowboat Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 The only free Internet that works well is at privately owned coffee shops. There is no password fusses and the speeds are, at the least, satisfactory. Not sure what security requirements going to be, but at large, coffee conglomerates, Internet access is a waist of time. Guessing it will be conglomerate access, yawn What happened with the much celebrated Phuket smart city WiFi network. Have not heard anything about that. Taiwan has something like that years ago. They admitted they need to invest more in antennas. Wander if any junkets were arranged to study exciting systems. Taiwan once made most of the world's WiFi radios, probably still does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goegoe Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 Give free wifi to all rural schools, you liar and idiot millionaire ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hashmodha Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 8 hours ago, davehowden said: Meanwhile in other news: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-44858238 And 90 days to sort this out and another 7 Billion quid fine waiting..... what I want to know is where does all this money go.?...in the last 10 years some £250 Billion has been collected through various Regulatory Authorities. Hmmmmm! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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