stdClass Object ( [id] => 7934 [paper_index] => EW201809-01-002525 [title] => A STUDY OF USAGE BEHAVIOUR OF FREE WI-FI HOTSPOT SERVICES: WITH SPECIFIC REFERENCE TO COMMUTERS AT THE FOUR MUMBAI LOCAL RAILWAY STATIONS [description] =>
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[author] => Dr. Sameer Kulkarni [googlescholar] => https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=KeqZGcIAAAAJ&hl=en [doi] => [year] => 2018 [month] => September [volume] => 6 [issue] => 9 [file] => eprapub/EW201809-01-002525.pdf [abstract] =>

The thrust of getting connected is immerging as a new popular trend through a new mode, the free Wi-Fi hotspots, in the digital India. Wireless Fidelity Networks “Wi-Fi” technology and is growing as a mode of easy connectivity and it has emerging as a modern life style need. Being connected has slowly emerging and its need is realized irrespective of the place, even it is felt at home, in the offices, in the colleges, at the railway stations, bus stops, cafes or airports. Literately millions worldwide latch on daily to both paid and free Wi-Fi hotspots to surf the Net on their mobile devices.

Users are connecting to Wi-Fi at a public places like an airport, coffee shop, library or a hotel by using an open Wi-Fi network, with open and public wireless access are called wireless or public Wi-Fi hotspots. There are over 31,000 public Wi-Fi hotspots installed in India. It is estimated that public Wi-Fi hotspots are bound to grow to 340 million by 2016 globally, amounting to 1 hotspot for every 20 people, as against the current ratio of 1 hotspot for every 150 people. Globally, the Wi-Fi hotspot market size was estimated to be over $1.5 billion in 2015, with over 47 million public hotspots deployed. France, the US and the UK led the deployment of public Wi-Fi hotspots with 13 million, 9.8 million and 5.6 million installed hotspots, respectively, till year 2016.

This paper discovers the usage behaviour and tries to recognize their intensions about this new service, and traces the motivators and drivers behind adoption of this new service. It will help the service users to find a more focused precise way to use it for advertising there products as a new means of marketing communication.

KEY WORDS: Wi-Fi hotspot, Google, face book, wireless, CSPs, petabytes, online socialization

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