Go wi-fi Philippines!

Everyone can just be comfortably seated and wait for his turn to get what he is applying for

Whenever you travel abroad, doesn’t it please you when there is free public wi-fi? You beam when a wi-fi icon pops up on your phone screen and underneath reads, “wi-fi network available.” So, even as early as cueing at airport immigration, by making use of the public wi-fi, you are busy on your phone messaging those at home that you safely arrived. And this wi-fi is not only at the airport. Nowadays, there are quite a number of places abroad where you find it. You enjoy it as you stroll in the parks and tourist attractions. As you go down the subway, you sometimes lose signal from your mobile provider. Thanks to station’s free wi-fi, you are able to access the Internet and check the place you will go to. As a tourist, you find this public service invaluable. Not only do you feel connected to home and everywhere else, you also feel safe. As I have written in my previous articles, the internet just makes everything and everyone accessible. So, when you seem lost, you just hit waze and find directions. Or through your hotel app, someone guides you back. Add to that the huge savings you make. Imagine, you practically can go on airplane mode your entire vacation. And yet, your phone is not rendered useless. With the public wi-fi, it still remains the most indispensable gadget, as it doubles as your phone and computer. No need to rent pocket wi-fi. Neither the necessity to buy a local sim. These are just some of the astounding advantages of free public wi-fi. And as a tourist in a foreign country, you greatly appreciate and make much use of it. And then you wonder.

When will the Philippines ever have one? You cannot help but compare how advanced a country is compared to ours. As you enjoy these wi-fi benefits abroad, you breathe a sigh of hope (or hopelessness?) that the Philippines will one day be a free wi-fi country as well.

Cheer up! The Philippines is getting there. Republic Act 10929, or the “Free Internet Access In Public Places Act,” approved on 2 August 2017, mandates that there’ll be free Internet service in public places such as national and local government offices, state universities and colleges, public hospitals and health centers, public parks, plazas, airports, sea ports and transport terminals, among other places. Of course, this will not happen overnight.

This is long-term. But this unequivocally demonstrates our country’s resolve to be at par with other free wi-fi enabled countries.

At least tourists visiting the Philippines will now feel what you feel when abroad. Our airports will now become huge free wi-fi zones. As soon as landing, they can tell their relatives at home they landed safely. And as they step out and get whisked to our public parks and plazas, they will enjoy uploading memories to their social media platforms. That is all care of our free public wi-fi. Now come to think of it. That is a huge tourism boost.

Pictures and videos uploaded by our foreign visitors are shared with their friends and families abroad. This educates those abroad how wonderful and exciting the Philippines is. Ergo, this entices them to come too. And when they do, they do exactly the same thing.

And the cycle repeats over and over again, to the enormous benefit of our economy.

Talk about free wi-fi in government offices. To state the obvious, this makes government services a lot more efficient and accessible. If it takes hours to line up just to submit an application and another line to get approval in a government agency; with public wi-fi, all these applicants need do is just access the government app and apply online. That easily does away with long lines. Everyone can just be comfortably seated and wait for his turn to get what he is applying for. Not only that, to make use of the waiting time, the applicants can multi-task. They do other transactions. The result, waiting time is reduced to the barest minimum and even made productive at that. Look at the larger picture, with a more efficient government service, you see a more robust and definitely fast-growing economy.

And when you trace what led to that, you realize that the free public wi-fi has a lot to do with it.

With the public wi-fi, it still remains the most indispensable gadget, as it doubles as your phone and computer.

That is just tip of the iceberg. Having free public wi-fi has, by far, many more benefits. It is not just economic gain and efficient service. It also means educating more and more people, who by merely accessing free public wi-fi, get troves of information. They need not get their hands on a hard copy. Information is instant with a click of an icon. Add to that, communication is a lot easier. For someone who does not have any load, all he should do is be in a free wi-fi zone and call via viber or whatsapp. I guess I have to stop here.

Discussing the benefits one by one will entail one whole newspaper; not just the small space of my column.

Free public wi-fi is really one fantastic public service literally everyone will enjoy. Not only will our tourists benefit from it, so will we. By leaps and bounds. Hopefully when our country becomes one huge free wi-fi zone, we, with head held up high, can boast to our Asian neighbors and even those across the globe, that we have what they have. Or even better.