Show HN: App recommending free Wifi based on hotspot heuristics and crowd-input

by brendan_gill • 11 years ago

26 45 11 years ago

andreaskam2• 11 years ago

Typed in wifimapper on my iPhone here in the UK. It says no results. Have you checked that?

cleis• 11 years ago

It takes a while for the App Store to index new apps for search (which is annoying), but the app is live! You can see it here - https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/wifimapper-free-wifi-maps/id....

andreaskam2• 11 years ago

Ah I see! Congrats on the launch today! Will download from direct link instead.

nodata2• 11 years ago

Does it work offline?

nbevans2• 11 years ago

+1 Seems pointless if it doesn't.

alexcroox• 11 years ago

So your phone can't connect to the internet at all without wifi? You should get that checked out.

brendan_gill9• 11 years ago

Offline Wifi packs (w/ maps!) is one of the top priorities on our development roadmap

mrmondo• 11 years ago

says 'server offline' in Melbourne, Australia

pyvpx• 11 years ago

it's a shame opensignal isn't more like openstreetmap with its dataset.

xexers• 11 years ago

Is there a rating in the app that says "% of people who were actually able to get online".

I've been to many places where they say there is "WiFi", but it's either not free, difficult to get on, or only free for certain people.

brendan_gill9• 11 years ago

Indeed - this is exactly the challenge we are working on. In future versions I think we will provide more detail on the classifications (e.g. 6 out of 7 users marked this as Free).

brendan_gill9• 11 years ago

Hi all - I'm one of the founders of OpenSignal and wanted to add some technical detail on what we're doing here - It's a V1 (although 4 years in the making!) and would love any feedback.

The source of the Wifi database is our existing app OpenSignal [1] which crowdsources data on the coverage of mobile networks. We also collect data on Wifi hotspots and have since mapped over 500 million of these since 2010. Although we can automatically detect if a password is required to connect, determining if it's free or not is another challenge as there are plenty of non password protected walled-garden hotspots and plenty of (what we consider) free hotspots where you still need to find out the password (e.g. cafes, restaurants etc).

So our algorithm looks at a number of heuristics of each hotspots including (but not limited to):

- Are there clues in the SSID (e.g. does it mention +ve keywords like 'free', 'cafe' or -ve keywords like 'staff', 'private', 'employees' etc).

- Is it part of a wider network that we know more about (e.g. 'ATT-wifi', 'Starbucks-Wifi' etc)

- Do we know what kind of place it is? (e.g. if it's a cafe, is it more or less likely to be free?)

- Is there a walled-garden behind the hotspot (we attempt some automatic background checking of this similar to the way Android & iOS will do this on new hotspots).

- How many distinct users have we detected connecting to a particular hotspot (If many, is that a sign it's a public place?)

This is just a sample - we look at over 20 different heuristics on each Wifi, none of which are individually conclusive, but together give us a strong indication on whether a Wifi hotspot is free or not.

However, it's unlikely we will ever be able to completely accurately classify free Wifi through a purely hueristic algorithm which is why with this new app we are asking for user input to help us curate this algorithm. Not only can users help tweak any hotspots that we have classified incorrectly, but we can train our algorithms to be smarter by learning from their input. We believe that this dual approach of an automated algorithm combined with manual curation from the crowd is the best way to solve a problem like this in the long run (not least because we didn't want to provide users with a blank canvas and ask them to classify Wifi without us doing any of the hard work first!).

Any feedback much appreciated!

[1] http://opensignal.com

EDIT: Tweaked line formatting

secure• 11 years ago

Out of curiosity, what is your reason for using wifi hotspots in today’s world?

Personally, I don’t bother connecting to a wifi network anymore (except when I’m at home or at work) because the mobile network is just so fast and convenient.

Even when abroad, I just buy a local SIM card and use that.

brendan_gill9• 11 years ago

In the user interviews we carried out some of the key use cases we've found for Wifi use are:

- People without unlimited data plans who would prefer to preserve data on their mobile plan

- People travelling abroad and want to avoid roaming fees (although I'm partial to a local sim also, for many this is quite technical)

- People who want to find a nice cafe to use their laptop

- Faster internet (Much of the world can't rely on fast LTE networks for example)

- Connectivity in places where there's no mobile signal (e.g. underground restaurants, bars etc).

nwatson• 11 years ago

This would be useful for a not-so-monetizable crowd ... the modern "hobo" population: http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/572691/Homeless-hobo-cod... ... and anyone else who cannot afford or choose not to pay for extensive data plans.

wslh2• 11 years ago

Seems like you don't travel to the countries with poor/oversubscribed mobile coverage (i.e: Argentina).

JamesCRR2• 11 years ago

+1 Funnily enough, I'm in Argentina right now working on the Android version of WifiMapper as we speak.

julian_t• 11 years ago

Or to those countries where getting a local SIM can be a real hassle (ie. India)

icebraining3• 11 years ago

Cost. Monthly data plans are a waste (I spend weeks, sometimes months, without needing mobile access) and pre-paid packages are limited and expensive.

I could certainly afford them, but considering that Wifi is plentiful where I live, it's not worth it.

rpbertp13• 11 years ago

Cellular data networks in many parts of the world deliver incredibly slow speeds. In those places, the hassle of finding and connecting to a WiFi hotspot is often worth it. I'm currently traveling in the Philippines and malls, restaurants and cafes commonly offer WiFi to attract customers, and it works.

Even when the local network is fast, buying a SIM card may not be an option if your phone is locked and under contract, which is very common for US users.

ekianjo3• 11 years ago

Buy a (used) Sim-free phone that's 2-3 years old, it's dirty cheap and will save you much trouble.

untog• 11 years ago

You know how I know you live in a major metropolitan area and have a good deal of disposable income?

pornel2• 11 years ago

Is there a way to try Android beta without going anywhere near Google+? (I'm banned from + for using a pseudonym).

brendan_gill9• 11 years ago

Could you shoot us an email? We can probably send you the APK file: http://opensignal.com/blog/contact/

pornel2• 11 years ago

Thanks. I've got the APK from @milankragujevic, but found that the application itself wants a Google+ login, so I can't participate :(

milankragujevic• 11 years ago

I uploaded a copy of the apk for you. If it's okay with the developers.. link: http://milankragujevic.com/uploads/com.opensignal.wifi-v0.09...

sz4kerto• 11 years ago

Microsoft WiFi Sense does something very similar on Windows Phones.

brendan_gill9• 11 years ago

There are a number of others building hotspot databases like this but mainly taking a purely automatic, heuristic approach. Our plan is to augment this with an engaged community of users who can help curate the database further in a way that isn't possible through an automated-only approach. See my comment below for more details.

amk_• 11 years ago

Wifi Sense actually shares credentials with your contacts and vice versa, so you automatically connect to hotspots within your (social) network. Not sure exactly how it handles duplicate SSIDs and things; probably with the heuristics you are talking about.

gondo• 11 years ago

i just wanted to add free wifi hotspot but i refuse to sign in with facebook. please add different kind of login.

brendan_gill9• 11 years ago

We'll be adding sign-in via email soon.

ekianjo3• 11 years ago

Nice, but isn't it a safety risk to log on a Wifi network you know nothing about ? You should probably warn users not to do any kind of sensitive browsing on it.

brendan_gill9• 11 years ago

Indeed, there are risks involved, but I'd argue that connecting to public Wifi is a pretty common existing habit already. There are good ways to stay protected though whilst doing this e.g. using a VPN.

ekianjo3• 11 years ago

You'd be surprised how many people don't even know what a VPN is... :/

djm_• 11 years ago

Nice to see London on a screenshot and not San Francisco for once! Congrats on the launch.

stevewilhelm• 11 years ago

If you are in Europe, take a look at the FON service. [1]

[1] http://maps.fon.com/en

icebraining3• 11 years ago

+1. Here in Portugal we're covered in FON hotspots, thanks to our biggest ISP including it in their routers. Buying a Fonera router was the best $40 I've ever spent - I know have Wifi on almost every populated street of the country.

fcoury• 11 years ago

Tried adding one hotspot and got "Sorry! We didn't manage to get a response from the server".

navpatel• 11 years ago

I'm traveling in Argentina right now, and I downloaded the app before heading out. Then saw this screen: http://i.imgur.com/QvaIf0w.png while trying to use it. ... doesn't this defeat the original purpose of the app?

Show HN: App recommending free Wifi based on hotspot heuristics and crowd-input

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