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Launch HN: Wifi Dabba (YC W17) – Low-Cost Wifi in India

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Launch HN: Wifi Dabba (YC W17) – Low-Cost Wifi in India

#1

Post by mildlyclassic »

Wifi Dabba provides super cheap, super fast internet at tea-stalls and bakeries in Bangalore, India. We built Wifi Dabba because mobile data is still expensive and also because getting wifi at the local bakery is just downright cool. We focussed on chai wallahs and bakeries because they're everywhere and practically everyone in India gets chai at least once a day from these stalls. We have 3 plans, Rs.2 for 100mb, Rs.10 for 500mb & Rs.20 for 20GB (edit: whoops, that should say 1GB. Someday we'll hit that low of a rate!). We don't have any free trials or ads because we think the Rs.2 price point is something that everyone can afford. We've got 100 locations so far, if you're reading this from Bangalore, check out our coverage map on http://www.wifidabba.com to try us out at a bakery near you. Our grand plan is to have Bangalore totally covered by the end of this year.

I'm Karam and my co-founder is Shubhendu, Wifi Dabba is actually the result of 6 painful years of building 32 different apps and watching them fail before we found something that had product/market fit. I've lurked on HN for years now and its a mini-daydream come true to be part of YC. We're both happy to answer any questions about Wifi Dabba or even just to commiserate with you on just how hard building products is.

Re: Launch HN: Wifi Dabba (YC W17) – Low-Cost Wifi in India

#2

Post by urs2102 »

Hey Karam!

First off, congrats! It's great to see you out here posting, and although I've yet to launch anything on HN yet - I'm sure there are parts that are nerve wracking. Regardless, it's a big deal to have something out that people are using, so again - congrats!

I just wanted to ask a couple questions about where Wifi Dabba stands when looking at something like Reliance's Jio? What exactly are the differences?

Secondly - I just wanted to know how you got your product out in the hands of users in Bangalore? My family currently lives in Gurgaon , but I've grown up outside India and whenever I look at startups in India I am amazed how they are able to organize themselves amidst the chaos that is India :P. Especially when looking at chai wallahs, is it just a manual process of going person by person, or could you share how you've grown?

Re: Launch HN: Wifi Dabba (YC W17) – Low-Cost Wifi in India

#4

Post by mildlyclassic »

urs2102 wrote: post #2

Hey Karam! First off, congrats! It's great to see you out here posting, and although I've yet to launch anything on HN yet - I'm sure there are parts that are nerve wracking. Regardless, it's a big deal to have something out that people are using, so again - congrats! I just wanted to ask a couple questions about where Wifi Dabba stands when looking at something like Reliance's Jio? What exactly are the differences?…

Reliance seems to be heavily focussed on their mobile network. They're talking a lot about their planned hotspots but there seems to be more smoke than fire at the moment. Once they launch, we'll see whats what. Our users seem to be wary of switching their phone numbers to Reliance and at the moment a lot of their phones don't support 4G as yet. Also, our service is 5x cheaper than mobile data, so users like that.

Rolling out Wifi Dabba has been a 'feet on the street' exercise, there's no shortcut to this. On the other hand we now have a waiting list of a few thousand stores, word gets around fairly quick because Dabba is good for business. It generates additional revenue, brings in new customers and store owners just think its cool.

Re: Launch HN: Wifi Dabba (YC W17) – Low-Cost Wifi in India

#9

Post by mildlyclassic »

sremani wrote: post #8

The dabba reminds me of Old STD, ISD, PCO dabba. Good concept. My guess is secondary and tertiary cities benefit more than metros like B'lore. Why 24hr validity on tokens ?

We're starting in Bangalore only because we know the city well. We're most definitely going to roll out in tertiary cities as soon.

Re: Launch HN: Wifi Dabba (YC W17) – Low-Cost Wifi in India

#10

Post by vmarsy »

That looks really cool, it's like the Starbucks/McDonalds wifi points, but for every shop for a really cheap price.

I'm curious about a few things:

How fast is super fast ?

How does it work? Is there a 4G hotspot hidden in the yellow box? or do you require your bakeries partners to install some specific router at their location (i.e. the bakeries must have a pre-existing internet connection setup) ?

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