pocha

This is a pretty bare-bone POC app. While shutting down service when no internet makes sense, I am currently not doing it. But rest of the time, the service keeps listening on the queue all the time, even if there is no data in the queue.

I am wondering how much battery drain it could cause. Whatsapp also has this MessageService that keeps running all the time in the background & it has not been a battery hogger I guess.

Are you sure that your ISP can really figure that you are sharing internet with others at their end ?

Even if they do, legally speaking, will you sharing the internet connection on your name with your flatmate / family members would amount to breach of contract ? In all likelihood, your flatmate shares the cost of the internet with you. Isnt this case is exactly the same, somebody else using your internet & helping you offset some of your cost. Am I missing something here ?

You are mostly right. Everybody has an internet connection now a days. There is sizeable migratory population which could get benefitted from such a system as they dont need a new wifi connection every time they change place provided neighbours have Griggi. Its chicken & egg for sure.

What we are trying to do is similar to what Uber did to cars. Not everybody need to own a car. Similarly, not every household need a dedicated wifi connection when you can borrow some from neighbours.

Apart from city center, big apartments are another good case for Griggi. Big apartments in cities have a good number of migratory population.

Free WiFi hotspots that works is still a rarity in city centers of developing nations. Griggi is also an attempt to organize the unorganized free WiFi hotspots. A couple of guys are trying to solve this problem by building a mobile app that does the job of remembering username password of free wifi hotspots. Griggi is an attempt to solve the problem at the root. But I agree that it also makes things more challenging for us.

Ya, you pay to buy Karma GB & use it at a Griggi WiFi. The idea is, if the concept becomes ubiquitous, people will be constantly looking for Griggi WiFi when they are close to residential/commercial establishments. You may have someone using your WiFi too :-).

We are also going to put a feature which would let people manage their free WiFi hotspot with Griggi as well.

The vision is to be the default WiFi sharing platform across the world. As a user, you just have your Griggi username, password & you use it to connect to every other WiFi hotspot.

Its like Fon except :-

1. There are no telco partners. We directly sell to consumers.

2. Data sharing & usage is metered. You accumulate then you use it elsewhere. Its called Karma GB.

3. We are also thinking of putting up a feature that lets you enable 'free wifi' if you are a cafe/restaurant owner and you need a DIY solution for your customers. Thinking of keeping it as paid feature.

Its coovachilli with a community & book-keeping server that keeps an account of how much others using your wifi & how much you could use of others. Its very close to Friefunk project actually.