Wigo – Free WiFi Access with Ads and More
January 8th, 2008 | by ka edong |Ads, bugs and poor grammar, that’s what’s more!
I was in Rockwell at Seattle’s best on New Year’s eve, sending out last minute emails that I wanted to close before the year ended.
I sniffed for a WiFi Hotspot and true enough, there was a free and open Wigo hotspot. Thought I was lucky.
I got a connection, but was limited to the wigo website until I downloaded a Wigo installer.
First funny thing: The Wigo application didn’t run correctly on my Windows XP IBMT43 laptop. It got stuck at “Installing Fonts”. I tried it twice, it didn’t work.
Second funny thing: Now, just before I started writing this article, I tried to install it again to get a screencapture of the first bug. This time, it came out with a pop-up advertisement. Ah, confirmed! Wigo is free as long as you can tolerate advertisements popping up while you use it.
Third funny thing: When I tried to log-off, a funny prompt appeared
“Are you sure you want to disconnect to the Internet?”
I generally don’t trust apps that don’t english well …. hehehe, funny, don’t you … think?
It was also odd why the app would ask me that question ats if I needed its permission to disconnect from my wired Internet connection right now.
I personally wouldn’t bother installing WiGo until I desperately need it. And then again, from experience, I’m not sure I’d be able to install it even if I wanted to. I’m careful about installing apps I’m not familiar with or don’t know about.
Wigo home and plant kamote, Wigo!
Oh, but let me give them some slacks! It was a good effort, and I see more of these efforts coming up, more hotspots from Wigo and similar services (i think e-yellowpages has something similar). Just make sure it works, then maybe I’ll try it.
Park at your own risk: http://www.wigo.ph/
ka edong
hahahaha!
Update, 28 Jan 2008: I was at Rockwell yesterday. Spoke to some Wigo representatives. Wigo launched their service there, they’re available at Block09 and Powerplant Mall. Free WiFi, weeee!
They’re not connected with Bayantel except for Bayantel as one of their possible internet service providers.
There was a video on Inquirer about Wigo, but couldn’t find it anymore. Here’s a Wigo article by Lawrence Casiraya at Inquirer.
Hey, it’s all good! Now, let’s see if I can manage to install it on my laptop ….
ka edong
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20 Responses to “Wigo – Free WiFi Access with Ads and More”
By 88lostsoul88 on Jan 12, 2008 | Reply
To ka edong:
Speaking of grammar…
“Oh, but let me give them some slacks!”
Don’t you mean “Let me cut them some slack” ??? So, I wouldn’t really be the judge of grammar, if I were you
I think it’s a fantastic idea – Internet should not be a luxury anymore because it is now a necessity…and free access to the internet in exchange for a little toolbar just might be worth it.
It seems to me that the ads are there for a reason: to FUND WiGO – nothing is absolutely FREE. Without the ads, there would not be any WiGO…
Maybe WiGO should have a comments page, where people could make suggestions and ask questions?
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By Arnold Gamboa on Jan 14, 2008 | Reply
I believe it’s a BayanTel service. Bayantel + Rockwell, makes sense.
Anyway, I hope that if Rockwell wants to offer free WiFi, make it free indeed. When I saw this hotspot on my Nokia E61i, I “was amazed and happy!” until I realized it cannot be run on my cell nor on an OS X. Which means, it’s not really free.
Which makes me appreciate Robinsons Galleria more. And Araneta Center.
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By Chits on Jan 14, 2008 | Reply
I tried the wifi service in Rockwell running on my Mac (Tiger 10.4) since last week… they have a beta version which I downloaded the website from the wigo website. Tried it also on Leopard. Worked fine. Service was quite fast at Rockwell and the coverage goes all the way to the UCC area.
I dunno about Araneta Center… with Smart Bro? My You Tube was bogging down when I was there.
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By ka edong on Jan 15, 2008 | Reply
hi 88lostsoul88,
If you read between the lines, you’ll find a teeny weeny little attempt at humour in my article.
Some people, like you and my girlfriend, don’t find me as funny as I wished. hehehe . cheers! it’s all good!
I agree, i know the purpose of the ads. I’m sure WiGo is going somewhere with this service. It will take more improvement before they become pervasive and accepted.
What I like is how they are challenging the other wifi services (airborne access, globe wiz) by offering wifi for free!
Remember how Sun Cellular forced the giants Globe and Smart to offer more competitive unlimited rates?
That’s how I see WiGo benefiting the WiFi-users community.
Hey Arnold, Chits,
Thanks for sharing your experiences.
I still go by Robinsons for Free WiFi. Havent’t tried Araneta Center. How about sharing some feedback about the Araneta Center Hotspot?
ka edong
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By Angel on Jan 28, 2008 | Reply
“If you read between the lines, you’ll find a teeny weeny little attempt at humour in my article.
Some people, like you and my girlfriend, don’t find me as funny as I wished. hehehe . cheers! it’s all good!”
Good lord. Stop defending your poor grammar. If we follow what you’re saying, not to trust anything with wrong grammar, then for what it’s worth, I don’t trust any of your opinions.
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By ka edong on Jan 28, 2008 | Reply
Hi Angel,
Sure. Thanks for visiting.
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By monstermd on Feb 8, 2008 | Reply
omg. people can be so mean sometimes. thanks for your article ka edong.
im wondering if i ought to have these wifi offers and the availability of wifi spots in manila. well, why should I bother to get unlimited wi-fi if there only scratchy selected areas which has it? (and mostly places where i dont hang out, i.e. malls). The conclusion is I dont have to.
Thanks, man.
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By ka edong on Feb 8, 2008 | Reply
You could try Robinson’s malls and access their free wifi.
http://technobiography.edongskey.com/wireless/hotspot-hunting-robinsons-pioneer/
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By gerald on Mar 23, 2008 | Reply
wigo.. he needs wifi adapter? am i right?
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By ka edong on Mar 24, 2008 | Reply
Yes
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By gerald on Mar 25, 2008 | Reply
so.. whats sa maximum range of wifi or wigo..? what about speed?
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By chie Yu on Jul 19, 2008 | Reply
hmm.. I just logged on via wigo now on my iBook. I didn’t get to download any app. I just registered and logged in. There was a small browser window that I closed though.. was that it?
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By ka edong on Jul 22, 2008 | Reply
wigo’s get me started page says there’s a mac version coming.
Contact wigo for more details.
mabu-hey!
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By deb on Sep 28, 2008 | Reply
dear ka edong,
seems to me the grammar is correct
debs last blog post..Google announces FREE wireless Broadband Service
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By ka edong on Oct 5, 2008 | Reply
Better grammar is: “Are you sure you want to disconnect *from* the Internet?”
magandang gabi
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By Mark on Apr 28, 2010 | Reply
hi i was in rockwell last night. I always used wigo to connect to internet. My laptop was upgrade to windows 7. how come i can’t connect to wigo. Is there any procedure on installation? Please send to my email please.. Thanks and God Bless!!
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