This startup lets you connect to the internet using someone else’s data

Photo credit: akhenatonimages / 123RF.

The hunt for a fast, cheap wifi hotspot starts the minute you land at a foreign airport. It’s essential – you just disembarked from a long flight and need to check all those WhatsApps. Your Uber can’t be hailed without mobile internet either, so the quicker you lock down that elusive wifi signal, the better.

There’s always the option of buying a SIM card, but who likes trudging into a telco shop, comparing data plans, and finally swapping cards? It’s a hassle we’d rather avoid.

Yen Pei Tay created Simplify to ease worries about finding reliable internet. The Malaysian entrepreneur spent 13 years working in the telecommunications industry – spanning roles across Motorola, Nokia, and IBM – before quitting to forge his own destiny.

Simplify’s Yen Pei Tay. Photo credit: Monash.

How Simplify works is fairly straightforward. Users can choose to sell their mobile data at a price they think is best. Buyers searching for the internet can find available listings nearby and choose the plan which appeals to them. There’s no contract or nasty cancellation fees involved.

“I started Simplify because when I look at the telco world today, it is monopolized by the telcos. If we want to open up the internet and make it affordable for everyone, something has to change,” remarks Yen Pei.

“We came up with Simplify to simplify the connection to wifi by seamlessly connecting without asking or keying in any password.”

Stint at MIT

The idea behind Simplify was conceptualized a couple of years ago, but the team initially worked on selling directly to corporates. However, the long wait for contracts – Yen Pei says they had to wait up to 18 months for deals to be signed in some cases – necessitated a change in approach.

A pivot to a consumer-facing model came last year, after which Yen Pei was invited to be part of the global entrepreneurship bootcamp at MIT. After a lot of feedback from early adopters and investors, the team settled on the strategy of helping people resell mobile internet.

“Today if you look at our smartphones they’re actually pretty dumb,” he points out. “First you have to search for wifi and then connect. Then ask for password and key in the creepy long wifi password in the tiny smartphone with our small fingers. It takes time and wastes battery. And the signal keeps dropping.”

Once users have settled on a plan through Simplify’s app, all they have to do is click confirm. There’s no need to key in additional passwords – the app will take care of it. Yen Pei explains you’re only charged for how much you consume, so, for example, if you buy one gigabyte for US$5 but consume only 10 MB, the ensuing payment will be five cents. The team takes a 25 percent commission.

He adds that privacy and security are things the team takes very seriously as it’s natural for users to be concerned – after all, strangers would be piggybacking on mobile data.

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