Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
Claim
The Central government is providing free Wi-Fi at your homes through a ‘Know your ISP’ facility on its website.
Fact
Newschecker first ran a keyword search for “Wi-Fi India government homes”, which did not lead us to any credible news reports about such an initiative.
Newschecker noticed that the screenshot of the Central government website featured in the influencer’s reel was that of “Sanchar Saathi”, an integrated citizen centric web portal.
“Sanchar Saathi portal is a citizen centric initiative of the Department of Telecommunications to empower mobile subscribers, strengthen their security and increase awareness about citizen centric initiatives of the Government. Sanchar Saathi empowers citizens by allowing them to know the mobile connections issued in their name, get disconnected the connections not required by them, block/trace lost mobile phones and check genuineness of devices while buying a new/old mobile phone. Sanchar Saathi contains various modules like CEIR, TAFCOP etc,” read the description of the portal. At no point in the website did it mention that the government would provide free Wi-Fi at your homes.
In his video, the influencer tells his viewers to look up the “Know Your Wireline Internet Service Provider” section on the website, where, on entering the Pin Code of your area, you will get the details of those companies providing free Wi-Fi. He then goes on to say that after contacting the phone numbers provided next to the ISPs, the company would set up a free Wi-Fi connection at your homes upon request.
Taking a cue from this, we then looked up the “Know Your ISP” section and after entering the Pin Code, we found details of the local ISPs, namely contact number, website, licence category and service areas. There is no mention of any free Wi-Fi connection being provided.
“Know Your Wireline Internet Service Provider (KYI) module facilitates citizens to check the details of Wireline Internet Service Providers (ISPs). The module enables the citizens to search for the presence of any ISP across the length and breadth of the country by entering PIN code, address or name of the ISP,” read the description of the section provided in the website, which contradicts the influencer’s claim of free Wi-Fi.
A further search led us to this PIB Fact-Check tweet, dated May 17, 2024, debunking the viral reel, stating, “The ‘Know your ISP’ facility in Sanchar Saathi only facilitates citizens to check the details of Internet Service Providers”.
Also Read: Did PM Share ‘All Eyes On PoK’ On His Instagram Story? No, Viral Screenshot Is Fake
Result: False
Source
Sanchar Saathi portal
PIB Fact Check tweet, May 17, 2024
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
