Google ditches its free WiFi service in South Africa, three months after launch

Post by AnthonyMouse » Mon, Feb 17, 2020, 7:10 AM UTC

pnako wrote: post #53

wyxuan wrote: post #5

I don't really know why Google, a company, is doing what should be done by the government with no clear benefit to the bottom line. This is not to say they shouldn’t do this, but if you look at it that way, it shouldn't be surprising at all. If they really wanted to help they probably should have teamed up with the government to ensure that there is government buy in to the program.

I think Google is an insecure advertising company. It's as if Phillip Morris International was trying to develop solar panels and vegan food products to make everyone forget that most of their revenue comes from tobacco.

Post by esprehn » Mon, Feb 17, 2020, 7:38 AM UTC

ineedasername wrote: post #66

esprehn wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a big difference between a paid (Google) service and a free one. Google doesn't generally shutdown paid B2B services, but it certainly does have a record of instability on free consumer services (like this wifi thing).

Well, they may not exactly sjut it down in th same abrupt way if it's paid, but if you look at their recent changes to the costs if using their maps API, they're certainly willing to rewrite the terms of use for paid tiers that result in apps that were paying nominal fees to suddenly being charged onerous, crippling costs order of magnitude more expensive that require shutting down the service built on Google's tech.…

Post by pixelpoet » Mon, Feb 17, 2020, 8:02 AM UTC

chilldsgn wrote: post #73

I suspect they're withdrawing due to infrastructure issues. We also have frequent power cuts (in my area it's up to 4 hours a day with no electricity) and loads of cable theft. Some of the cell towers even get shut down because people steal the hardware, the batteries that keep them operational. Heck, we've even had cases of people stealing fibre cables, because they thought they were worth more than copper. *I am a…

Post by thereisnospork » Mon, Feb 17, 2020, 8:21 AM UTC

numlock86 wrote: post #69

reaperducer wrote: post #56

I still remember when Google promised to bring free wifi to all of the poor neighborhoods in Chicago. Amid a big frenzy of local media and politician hoopla it said was going to put access points on every streetlight. Then Google found out that when the street lights turn off, there's no power to run the access points. So it just walked away.

> Then Google found out that when the street lights turn off, there's no power to run the access points. Uh? Duh! What did they expect? A switch in every street light? (Which also would need to be controlled in some way ...)

Post by odiroot » Mon, Feb 17, 2020, 8:40 AM UTC

numlock86 wrote: post #69

reaperducer wrote: post #56

I still remember when Google promised to bring free wifi to all of the poor neighborhoods in Chicago. Amid a big frenzy of local media and politician hoopla it said was going to put access points on every streetlight. Then Google found out that when the street lights turn off, there's no power to run the access points. So it just walked away.

> Then Google found out that when the street lights turn off, there's no power to run the access points. Uh? Duh! What did they expect? A switch in every street light? (Which also would need to be controlled in some way ...)