| By Joseph Ochwo,
:: 24-05-2010
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Along the Kiroowoza road lies the Fast Web internet café right opposite UCU (after the first gate). The vast beautifully furnished café has a basement like structure that separates the reception from the spacey surfing ground with about 15 computers; providing a conducive environment for doing personal study and also course works, with the craftily made cushioned chairs providing a great comfort to the client.
On the left of the entrance is another room with about 10 computers fully connected to the internet. All computers in the café are HP made. The café offers a great taste of soothing music ranging from classical, instrumentals to hyped music. This comes from hidden speakers placed in every corner of the café. The two weeks old café has already received a big applause from students; most of whom are facebook (a social online site)users. “The internet here is very fast, with great offers like the 30days unlimited internet promotion, the computers are in plenty, the ambience is great and the rates are affordable” says Faith Bagamuhunda, a BCH 2 student. Evelyn Mbabazi, a BBA 3 student says that the workers at the café are so hospitable and friendly. The café not only has the most diverse IT services around campus but also a strong tie with the student community of UCU. Its proprietor, Timothy Laku says that they have been in touch with the UCU Guild over plans of making the café a voting centre during Guild elections. “We are going to introduce online voting starting from the June 4 elections at Fast Web, these will make voting easier and increase students` participation in the voting exercise” says Laku. Also in discussion with the Guild is Fast Web’s sponsoring of sports related events at UCU, this is aimed at promoting talent and also identifying new talent, mostly from the newly admitted students at UCU. “We shall see if we can sponsor all the games like basketball, football and volleyball per semester or have one game done per semester” says Laku. The café provides internet, photocopy, printing, scanning, video library among other services. Mr Laku encourages UCU students to give in the opinions of the services they need to be added onto the café. “We are already planning on providing soft drinks, mobile money services, cinema and bringing a standby generator” says Laku. Outstanding on their menu is a promotion that requires a client to subscribe 10,000 to receive 30 days of unlimited internet service. This can always be renewed before or at the end of one’s subscription period. This however does not give one discounts on games, movies and other services at the café. Other services avail only platinum café members a 50% discount (for instance, if printing is 800shs, a platinum member gets it at 400shs), to gain this status, one has to register for a separate platinum café membership package. Members who encourage their friends to register will also be rewarded with a free three days surfing bonus. The café has a page on facebook which will be updating students on the events that will be sponsored by the café at campus and also the services offered. Students on facebook can search; FAST-WEB UG to become fans of the group. |