Tourists not aware of free WiFi service
KOTA KINABALU: Tourists are unware of the free WiFi service introduced by Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK).
Hungarians Miklos Haidu and Szandra Nemet said the free WiFi service would certainly be convenient for tourists.
While it is easy to navigate around the city (Kota Kinabalu) as it is in a grid structure, Miklos said the WiFi service would come in handy if tourists needed to search for certain services on Google Map, such as money changers.
However, Miklos said he and Nemet were not aware of the availability of WiFi and suggested making the service more visible with instructions on how to go online.
Chen Chen, a tourist from Shanghai also echoed the view of Miklos, saying that she was unaware of the WiFi service as it was not promoted to tourists.
Chen currently relies on a local SIM card which she bought for her vacation in Sabah.
Kota Kinabalu is the first city in Malaysia that provides free WiFi service to the people.
Kota Kinabalu Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KKCCCI) honorary secretary Yee That Hian said the free WiFi service will benefit not only city folks and businesses, but also tourists as well.
He said many Chinese tourists rely on the social media app WeChat to communicate with their friends and relatives back home on what local products to buy for them.
“With the free WiFi service, tourists can now share the brands or pictures of the actual products with their friends and family members and vice versa before buying,” he said.
Yee, who owns Gaya Pharmacy, said most locals would have subscribed to data plans offered by telecommunication companies and thus might not utilize the KK City WiFi service.
Nonetheless, he said there ought to be more promotions about the WiFi service so that more tourists were aware of the facility.
He said information about the service could be included in tourism booklets at the airport or by installing signage at locations where the free WiFi were available.
Yee said the WiFi service was a good initiative of the Kota Kinabalu City Hall, but there was room for improvement in terms of coverage and speed.
“Since it is a public Internet, its speed may slow down when there are too many users.
“It will also be more convenient for tourists if they could search for places to eat and visit quickly on high-speed Internet.”
On a similar note, Yee stressed the need to enhance the infrastructure, speed and stability of Internet in Sabah as businesses were increasingly heading towards e-commerce and e-transaction such as Alipay.
He said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had also announced that broadband speed would be doubled and prices halved within two years when unveiling Budget 2017.