31 October 2014

CBRfree public Wi-Fi goes live in Civic

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ACT Chief Minister Katy Gallagher launched CBRfree public Wi-Fi in Civic East yesterday – the first area of the city to go permanently live with Canberra’s new free public Wi-Fi network.

At the launch, the Chief Minster also announced that service provider iiNet will increase the download limit of CBRfree from 100 megabytes per day (3 gigabytes per month), to 250 megabytes per day (7.5 gigabytes per month).

“This is a significant moment for Canberra and represents the ACT Government’s commitment to our future as a smart and digital city,” the Chief Minister said.

“We want to ensure Canberra is a place where businesses and entrepreneurs can compete globally in new knowledge-based and ICT industries.

“The rollout of CBRfree Wi-Fi will continue to make Canberra a place of influence and innovation. It will encourage vibrant town centres where Canberrans are connected to their community and are able to engage with Government services easily.

“It is fantastic that iiNet have offered to increase the download limit of CBRfree to 250MB at no additional cost to the Territory. This allows iiNet to create a homogenous service across the cities in which it delivers free public Wi-Fi while giving Canberrans even greater connectivity.

In May this year, the Chief Minister announced that as of October Civic East – from Garema Place to the Convention Centre, round to Gorman House and up to Girrahween Street in Braddon – would be the first area of the city to go live with CBRfree public Wi-Fi. This would be followed with a staged rollout in other town centres and commercial precincts over the following 12 months.

“The next area of Canberra that CBRfree public Wi-Fi will be rolled out in is Civic West – from Moore Street to the New Acton precinct. This area is scheduled to be fully live in January 2015,” the Chief Minister said.

“Over the coming months, as free public Wi-Fi is rolled out across all of Civic, Canberrans will start to see signage that will identify the free public Wi-Fi hotspots. I encourage you all to log on and check out the new network,” the Chief Minister concluded.

CBRfree public Wi-Fi was recently made available at this year’s Floriade and was incredibly popular. There were more than 48,000 sessions and nearly 13,000 unique users connecting to the network over the duration of the festival.
The new free public Wi-Fi service will provide users with 250 megabytes per day, totalling 7.5 gigabytes per month. An example of the type of internet activity Canberrans will have per month is:

  • the capacity to send around 15,000 emails (without attachments);
  • make around 1,500 Facebook posts;
  • download about 525 songs; or
  • download roughly 1,500 photos.

For more information on the rollout of CBRfree public Wi-Fi visit www.digitalcanberra.com.au.

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CUNNINGSTUNTS12:40 pm 31 Oct 14

Seems the 3 posts above share my exact views on this as yet another waste of Tax Payers Money…
I often wonder if the ACT Government will ever remember that is here to Serve the communities needs not dictate how the community will run…

Ya know the next thing Canberra will be getting a Train that only travels on one side of town… oh wait a minute they did that too…

This government is always finding new ways to waste money.

And what does our lovely Government plan to do with the usage data they collect?

It’s already been proven elsewhere that Government run “free WiFi” is used to on-sell usage information to third parties. How do people using it feel about having their movements tracked through the WiFi zone as they bounce from access point (AP) to access point? Shops then buy this info to target products at you. Or better yet – malicious parties (or the Government even) use this data for intrusion into our lives?

With 3G/4G speeds and connection covering almost 100% of the population, who really needs this – and with a 250MB limit it’s useless. Yet another unneeded joke from our Government!

Excellent, I have to go and try it. While I’d not typically use it a lot, it is a huge plus for visitors to the city, particularly from overseas. You’ll find similar free Wi-Fi networks in other cities around the world and we found it particularly useful when travelling overseas as a family. I like it, good work ACT Govt.

“We want to ensure Canberra is a place where businesses and entrepreneurs can compete globally in new knowledge-based and ICT industries.

How exactly is giving free wifi in the city going to do that?

3G/4G coverage is good enough that it’s faster for me to just use that than have to go through the stupid login process for free wifi. Plus I can access anything I want, no firewalls or exception filters.

I’m sure the growing number of homeless youth will really appreciate the effort spent on this.

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