A recent survey has found that Wi-Fi service is not popular among Internet users as the majority of them are not satisfied with the wireless Internet access in public area.

The University of Hong Kong interviewed a total of 615 people, mostly Internet users, including 507 adults in February and 108 teenagers in July .

About 47 percent of the teenage respondents used Wi-Fi service in comparison with 20 percent of the adult group.

Only 40 percent of the Wi-Fi users found the wireless service in public area satisfactory.

They cited limited coverage, expensive charge, and unstable connection as reasons for their discontent.

The users said they mainly used Wi-Fi for Internet browsing (26.1 percent), emailing (24.6 percent) and instant messaging (19.9 percent). Using Wi-Fi for electronic government services ranked the lowest in the list (4.6 percent).

Despite the discouraging findings, people from the wireless industry are rather optimistic about the development of the technology in the city.

Hong Kong Wireless Development Centre (HKWDC) director Anthony Tang, who commissioned the survey, said Wi-Fi is already more popular now than when it started in February.

So far the government has installed half of the targeted 350 Wi-Fi hotspots.

Charles Mok, chairman of the Internet Society Hong Kong, believed there are more Wi-Fi users out there than the survey has revealed.

He noted some users may not know about the technology well enough. For instance, it is normal for Wi-Fi users to encounter broken connection once in a while, he said.

John Chiu, chairman of the Hong Kong Wireless Technology Industry Association (WTIA), said the commercial application of Wi-Fi in Hong Kong is actually more innovative than its neighbors like Taiwan and Singapore, who focus more on hardware development.

The wide Wi-Fi network could enhance efficiency in different businesses like logistics and finance, he remarked.

"If Hong Kong can develop a more secure and stable Wi-Fi network, we have what it takes to take a leading position in terms of the use of Wi-Fi in Asia," he said.

(HK Edition 11/01/2008 page1)