As a freelancer I work mainly from home. Sometimes I'm at a client's office. And the rest of the time I'm at my ‘mobile office’ which is usually one of the Starbucks outlets scattered throughout Kuala Lumpur.

My favourite is the one located in Bangsar Village 2 (BV2) because it has the best configuration of sofas there. It's almost as if it was set up to be a mobile office. Hang out there and do some people-watching. You will notice that the meetings are largely business rather than social in nature.

While StarbuckNONEs pioneered the free Wi-Fi culture in Malaysia, it's now a common feature in eateries throughout the city, though with different levels of ease of access.

Coffee Bean came late into the free Wi-Fi game. At first it charged for Wi-Fi access, then it offered it for free but required you to enter a password, which often did not work. Now, it's finally come around to simply giving it away for free though a first time registration is required.

McDonalds gives free access although it does require a login. Old Town Kopitiam makes it simple: Free access with no passwords and no login. The same for Pappa Rich and Delicious. But it's not just the famous chains that offer Wi-Fi with your coffee or meal. Go to any trendy eatery and more likely than not, they offer it too.

Even unlikely places like the Ming Tien hawker centre offer free Wi-Fi access!

Those of us who like to use eateries as our mobile offices probably take this free Wi-Fi culture for granted. I know I do. But I had a rude awakening recently when I travelled to Singapore. I asked a Malaysian friend who lives there whether it's easy to get free Wi-Fi there and he said it's not as common as in KL and PJ. Fortunately, it was just a day trip.

Someone told me about a service called Wireless@SG which is supposed to be free but requires a registration. I tried it while waiting to board my plane back to Wi-Fi-abundant KL. I could detect the wireless signal but it showed ‘No Internet Access’. I tried to register but no registration page appeared.

Out of desperation, I went to an Internet booth where they had ethernet cables available for tourists to hook up to their laptops.

"How quaint," I thought. We in Malaysia tend to think of Singapore as being so much more advanced in terms of IT and at their airport they offer LAN (local area network) lines.

Spoilt for choice

To be fair to Singapore, free Wi-Fi is not all that common even in the US. It was only in July this year that Starbucks decided to give free Wi-Fi access to its customers.

Prior to that, customers could get free access only for two hours and only if they purchase something using a Starbucks card. After that it's US$3.99 per hour! McDonalds in the US also only started giving free Wi-Fi access this year.

So, we in Klang Valearthley are spoilt for choice when it comes to free Wi-Fi. This is not to say free Wi-Fi is ubiquitous but the trend is growing. This is partly due to peer pressure. Call it the Starbucks effect.

If you are a restaurateur or an entrepreneur thinking of opening a cafe your business model would be incomplete without a Wi-Fi plan because all your rivals would have it.

This trend doesn't seem to pervade among hotels though. Most of them, including the super- expensive ones, don't offer free Wi-Fi. In fact, it'll usually cost you an arm and a leg just to get ridiculously slow access.

Hopefully this will change because charging for Wi-Fi is like swimming against the current. With unlimited 3G data plans becoming more common, especially among city-slickers, and with WiMAX spreading (albeit somewhat slowly) there will be more and more alternatives to Wi-Fi. Why would someone want to pay for hotel Wi-Fi if they already have a data plan for their phone or WiMAX subscription?

NONEThe best solution of course is for some Internet service provider to blanket the whole of Klang Valley with Wi-Fi and require the user to watch some commercial clips before gaining access.

There is already an attempt to offer city-wide Wi Fi through Wireless@KL but coverage is incomplete, access is patchy and the registration process is far too cumbersome. It's hardly a good alternative to what 3G is and what WiMAX could be.

Until then, you can find me lounging at Starbucks BV2 doing research, checking my e-mails and holding online conversations with other freelancers with whom I collaborate remotely.


OON YEOH's new social media book 'Like Me, Follow Me' has just been published by MPH. You can connect with him via Facebook and Twitter.