Ever had the experience of needing wifi in a cafe or mall but unable to access any hotspots? For those in Korea, this will be less of a problem, with most cafes and public areas having hotspots. Even so, majority of the hotspots are locked and sometimes it is a hassle to ask for the password.
Waffle Wi-fi aims to change that experience by offering free wifi that you can access. Of course, nothing comes entirely free in today’s world. Waffle is experiencing with several methods, including log-in with your Facebook account and allowing one ad to be posted onto your Facebook wall; or checking-in with Twitter etc; or even answering a simple quiz question while looking at an advertisement. A small price to pay for convenient access to wifi. It is also a win-win situation for both the business owner and the user as the location / services / products are being advertised with the check-in.
Waffle is founded by CEO Kwangmin Lee and it aims to be a location-based ad platform for advertisers while at the same time providing free and convenient wifi access for everybody. Since its launch, the platform has been gaining attention from other wifi providers or advertisement agencies from all over the world. CEO Lee has received emails from countries such as Australia, Singapore etc who are interested in bringing the service into their home countries.
Waffle is now used in several cafes in Korea, and several conferences and other events in both Korea and Japan.Recently, the team started to explore more options, such as providing wifi for club parties where 3G network is notoriously slow and wifi is hard to access.
With the increased in demand for fast and accessible wifi service in public areas, Waffle is definitely a service to look out for in the future.
Check out their website here.