After one year of being in testing phase, Facebook has officially announced the “Find Wi-Fi” feature worldwide.
It started off by only supporting iOS in selected countries. Now, the company has extended it to the Android platform as well.
The Find Wi-Fi feature is very effective as it helps people to get connected in remote areas where cellular connectivity is unavailable or connections are unstable. Essentially, it helps find free networks in and around the area you are in, with detailed information to get connected, provided the businesses have chosen this feature. Now that the feature is generally available on Android as well as iOS, more businesses should hopefully start to opt-in their public WiFi networks.
In a developing country like India, it will be extremely useful, as people often experience connectivity loss during travel. It also helps reduce cellular data consumption by piggybacking on publicly available Wi-Fi hotspots.
While accessing these networks, please remember that there are hackers around you trying to sneak into your systems. Public Wi-Fi networks are particularly attractive to hackers.
To access this feature, you must have access to data. In order to view the available Wi-Fi hotspots in a particular area, tap on the “more” tab in the main Facebook app and scroll down to find Wi-Fi. It also helps you to find restaurants and cafes nearby.
Facebook has designed its solar-powered drone, Aquila, to provide free internet to rural areas. Unfortunately, the plane crash-landed earlier this year due to strong winds snapping off a 20-foot section of the wing. The second flight in May was more successful, after Facebook modified the auto-pilot software, added spoilers to the wing and increased the number of on-board sensors by hundreds more.
Facebook hasn’t stopped with this; it is also working on an undersea cable connection across the Pacific.
Facebook is not only working towards keeping the world connected on the go but has also announced its plan of using solar-powered drones to increase connectivity in developing countries.
As “commoners”, we Android users are looking forward to more features like these that will help make our lives simpler.
