Why does the refunds page ( http://www.wifidabba.com/RefundPolicy.html ) look out of place? Are you offering any other services?
Yikes, thanks for point that out, we'll fix it.
Launch HN: Wifi Dabba (YC W17) – Low-Cost Wifi in India
61–70 of 100 posts
Re: Launch HN: Wifi Dabba (YC W17) – Low-Cost Wifi in India
#62Can you talk a little bit about how you power the Dabbas and refresh the tokens if they are only valid for 24 days. Do you guys function like "doodh wallahs" in that you visit the locations every morning to reset power and tokens? Would seem like a hassle but convenient from the point of view of the chai wallahs.
The dabbas are plugged into the wall for power, practically all tea shops tend to have a power line of some sort even if its not obvious at first glance. We provide a battery backup too. Our software handles refreshing of tokens, so no need to visit the store that often for maintainence.
Re: Launch HN: Wifi Dabba (YC W17) – Low-Cost Wifi in India
#63Love the name. If the main usecase is for ~10min of chai sipping time, then easy/hard is the onboarding? ie., agreeing to terms & conditions, login, payment etc. Will this require them to download a new app or will it just appear as WiFi network with a loginportal? It would seem if the time frame was longer (say a train journey or cab stuck in traffic) the process might be worth it. Did u guys explore movie theaters,…
You're right, its a simple login portal, no app, no fuss.
Re: Launch HN: Wifi Dabba (YC W17) – Low-Cost Wifi in India
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
The range right now is about ~50ft. We're working on improving that dramatically, it's our top priority.
Any estimate on what your future range would look like ?
We're hoping the next version should hit about 100ft, we're aiming to improve in small steps and often.
Re: Launch HN: Wifi Dabba (YC W17) – Low-Cost Wifi in India
#65an awesome idea !!
Re: Launch HN: Wifi Dabba (YC W17) – Low-Cost Wifi in India
#66Can you give us a (as long as possible) tldr version of how you went from Idea to execution? Did you have relevant background around ISPs and or telecom? How did you investigate which ISPs you could partner with and how did you partner with them?
Re: Launch HN: Wifi Dabba (YC W17) – Low-Cost Wifi in India
#67Congrats Karam! Good to see your public launch. I wonder if you thought of building your dabba on top of an Android phone. The Android Things platform combined with COSU mode in Android 6+ would make this kind of hardware very developer friendly...with remote management and updates built in for free ! It's something I have been wondering about lately. YMMV.
That's actually the first thing we tried, but then discovered pretty quickly that the unit economics don't work if you use a phone. Android is great way to prototype the idea, but sadly that's as far as you can go.
Really ? I was looking at 40$ phones at retail. Night be even cheaper in bulk.
But you're the expert obviously.
Re: Launch HN: Wifi Dabba (YC W17) – Low-Cost Wifi in India
#68I had the exact same idea about 2 years ago, but never got a chance to follow through on it because I immigrated to Toronto. Definitely a novel and much needed problem that requires solving, and makes me super happy that it's being executed on! Well done guys!
Do look into Microtik hardware, hopefully these boxes can solve a ton of your problems: https://routerboard.com/ I know back when I was envisioning this, Microtik and RouterOS was on top of my list.
Re: Launch HN: Wifi Dabba (YC W17) – Low-Cost Wifi in India
#69I had the exact same idea about 2 years ago, but never got a chance to follow through on it because I immigrated to Toronto. Definitely a novel and much needed problem that requires solving, and makes me super happy that it's being executed on! Well done guys! Do look into Microtik hardware, hopefully these boxes can solve a ton of your problems: https://routerboard.com/ I know back when I was envisioning this, Micro…
Thanks so much for the link, will look into it fo sho.
Re: Launch HN: Wifi Dabba (YC W17) – Low-Cost Wifi in India
#70I don't understand one point. Bakeries and petty shops are not the places where people sit or spend more than a few minutes. Even if you were to,you are busy grabbing a coffee or a cigarette. Even though the number of people is very high, I dont see myself going to a petty shop ,buying a token and using the internet.Would love to know your counter.