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Sure the world is not getting any younger and it progresses every minute. Technology wise, every now and then there is another innovation that we have to look forward to and get our hands on. Unlike the other countries where there is a vast spread of free public Wi-Fi and hot spots located everywhere in their cities, Philippines has yet to mobilize and upgrade its technology to fit this generation's in dire need of internet access.

I, myself, am a slave of internet where in you could just click your phone and get data as much as you want without having to give so much effort. I am not one of those library-type students who will really search tirelessly through every book sections just to get their home works done. This is 2016, the very reason I cling to and that life should be easier for us with all the technology emerging, why not use them instead? But as much as we want to get internet access there is also a limit knowing it is costly to pay for internet plans or to get your homes Wi-Fi ready.

The Department of Science and Technology's Information and Communications Technology Office (DOST-ICTO) is implementing its project to come up with a "Free Wi-Fi Internet Access in Public Places” to selected places in the Philippines before 2015 ends - which was last year.

It will be accessible to public and social places like parks, libraries, national and local government offices, public hospitals and rural health units, airports, seaports, and LRT-MRT stations. It will also cater not only to the urban but also the rural parts of the country. We are talking of a P1.408 billion budget for this project which was originally proposed P339 million in the National Expenditure Program, as authorized in the 2015 General Appropriations Act.

Despite this good progress, there are also the cons and bad sides. Limited kbps speed will only be acquired by these data users which can therefore affect their surfing in order to cater to almost all of the users that will connect to the free public Wi-Fi. Speed will be up to 256 kbps, which will enable you to browse e-mails and other websites that doesn’t require too much data. This strategy is particularly practiced by internet providers for that same reason which is to serve their clients with enough internet speed and allowance.

There are three levels with level 1 being the simplest and quite similar to the Free Wi-Fi setup in malls with a limit of 50MB daily or 1GB a month for each portal. It may not be much of a data but enough to help you with Facebook Messenger and other requirements requiring low internet speed.

Level 2 requires a government ID or a passport to be presented but same as level 1 it has low assurance that connection will be 2GB monthly or 100mb daily. For Level 3, a Digital ID will be subject to the requirements of the National Public Key Infrastructure. It will be tied to the Common Reference Number (CRN) of the Universal Multi-purpose ID (UMID).

There is a high guarantee or assurance that a Level 3 will receive the monthly allocation of 3 GB (300 MB daily) with speeds of 256 kbps. But there will also be restrictions to some sites. With millions of us trying to connect to these outlets or hotspots there should only be limited data per day provided for each so that we will be served equally and everyone will be able to enjoy this technology.

Just recently in Legazpi City, Mayor Noel E. Rosal signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) which will implement the free public wifi in the city to be forwarded to the DOST and to be signed by Secretary Mario Montejo as said by Councilor Melissa Abadeza. The increasing number of internet users here in the city triggered the Mayor to provide us with free internet access. Everywhere we look there is always something worth posting online, on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or even Snapchat.

Gone are those days when we were still fond of taking pictures of tourist spots/destinations and go to the nearest printing shop to print wallet size photos of those pictures we’ve taken. Now, it is easier to share these photos online. Thus, it also helps the tourism as well as economy of the certain place that may be posted.