~ An Overview

The Problem

Roughly 3,000,000 people fly daily. Many of those travelers need to connect to a WiFi network at an airport. However, most networks at airports are private, causing travelers to rely on slower, unsecured connections.

Many travelers don't have the time to find someone at an information desk who can share a WiFi password with them before takeoff.

The Idea

Due to the struggles many travelers faced trying to find a stable WiFi network at an airport, I decided to create a chatbot making it possible for travelers to access WiFi no matter where they were, using the following problem statement:

How might I create a chatbot to help travelers be one step ahead and access WiFi information at airports they are traveling to?

Pausing for Clarity: Porter is an active side project with 400+ users.

The Project

Creation

I kicked off the project by scouring the web for chatbot builders and host platforms to figure out the most practical approach for both myself and users. After researching the details, I understood the best options for launch and decided to use Chatfuel and Facebook Messenger to reach users easily.

After settling on the platforms, I needed to find as much information on WiFi network passwords as I could for airports worldwide.

This helped ensure that Porter would have accurate information for every user saving precious time at airports. However, with all the details and platforms laid out, I ran into a few roadblocks.

Roadblocks

While Porter has improved over 400 traveler's trips; building the project was more challenging than expected for the following reasons:

• A learning curve: I had no experience connecting Chatfuel with Facebook Messenger leading to slow changes and inaccurate updates.
• A lack of structure: The WiFi details I gathered had no structure leading to multiple entries of the same airports and networks.

Nevertheless, I learned about the backend and refined the entries ensuring that Porter would work and integrate seamlessly into traveler's daily lives.

The Launch

On May 2, 2017, I launched the first working version of Porter on Product Hunt. This was my first launch on Product Hunt, and I had no idea what to expect. Surprisingly, the community embraced the project, helping it get featured on the home page bringing in users from all around the world.

The Future of Porter

Porter hasn't received an update for quite some time because I've decided to focus on wrapping up college and searching for internships.

In the future, I plan to update the WiFi passwords and divide the airports into terminals, making it easier for users to find a network near them. This will help travelers save more time before or when they make it to their terminal.

Building Porter was a challenging but rewarding experience that helped me better understand building a conversational user experience.

Understanding what Porter should expect a user to respond with proved to be a challenge. However, with the help of artificial intelligence, accurate responses were easily created and sent to users.

Try Porter

If you're a frequent flyer and think Porter could benefit you, check it out on Facebook Messenger or Product Hunt.

Thanks for Reading!

I appreciate the time you’ve taken to read through my experience building Porter to understand my process better. If you have any questions about my experience building Porter, please reach out! I’d love to discuss it with you!

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