Free Sydney Wireless - SydneyFreeNet

NSW Gov free wifi plan shot and buried

The city provides drinking fountains to quench our thirst.That still didn’t stop anyone from opening a cafe, bar, pub,… and make money out of it. The government provides (relatively) cheap public transport, and public roads.That didn’t stop anyone from providing a service of driving a car or a minibus and have people pay for that. So when will free, open Internet access be considered a part of the public service offered by (local) government? Well, it won’t be any time soon for Sydney and NSW unfortunately as the NSW Government decided to abandon any plans for a free wireless broadband network for the CBD areas in and around Sydney.

Eric Roozendaal said the Government had evaluated proposals from 15 providers keen to build the network but concluded it wasn’t practical based on technical and financial grounds.

From an SMH opinion piece:

This came almost a year after Mr Roozendaal said the Government was in the “final approval stage” of selecting a supplier to build the network, which would provide free internet access to anyone within range.

And apparently Unwired, which by the way has a business model of selling wireless broadband internet access, was happy to do it:

Unwired rejected Mr Roozendaal’s core justification that it would expose taxpayers to tens of millions of dollars in losses, saying its proposal would require next to no extra Government funding. Unwired’s chief executive, David Spence, said all the company required from the Government was access to building infrastructure such as rooftops.

Unwired already has more than 100 free wifi hot spots dotted across Sydney - running under the uConnect brand - and would use this existing infrastructure while funding it by advertising. The uConnect hotspots are only available between 5am and 7pm though. Another initiative similar to uConnect is CafeScreen, a wireless billboard system which also offers free wifi at independent cafes. As CafeScreen puts it:

Cafés are the new meeting rooms, living rooms, study spaces, and as such have become a natural point in which to expect WiFi Internet access outside the home and workplace.

So businesses do see value in providing free wifi. The New York Times has a nice article on the business of free/paid wifi.

Some people though don’t “see” it just yet, probably the same people who didn’t see a use for mobile phones either. It certainly is debatable if any and how much taxpayers money should be spend on free internet access. But pointing to overseas failed projects, which often were too ambitious or where bureaucracy made anything impossible, and then decide to quite the whole project, not even trial in a single CBD? That displays an obvious lack of vision. A vision of a modern, interconnected city which has to compete with not only world cities like New York and London, but also closer with Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai for business, tourism and innovation.

And with the US as an example, for failed projects according to the NSW government, Wired has a nice overview:

Dozens of lower-profile locales are launching government-sponsored networks. Most are smaller cities and counties, where bureaucracies are less onerous and costs are lower.

Do check out the map, or download the pdf from the print article! They are not all free, sometimes requiring a small monthly fee.

Anyway, we’ll keep on going grassroots style, promoting the bottom-up approach (”Share your wifi!”), from the outside in, from suburb to CBD. At one point in time government might catch up, business might jump on board (even more) and we all meet up.

Again, can you imagine your world without the Internet? I can’t. I wouldn’t be in Sydney if it wasn’t for the Internet. It changed so much, touching everyone every day, in ways you probably don’t even know. I won’t iterate what it means to me, but just imagine what it could mean to have Internet access everywhere, for free. But we don’t know what we don’t know. Innovation happens in the strangest places. But it might not be Sydney (for now).

(edit) More success stories…
Free WiFi in Estonia :

And the whole effort has been and still is driven largely by just one man: Veljo Haamer, a technology geek who conceived this dream of wiring - or rather unwiring — his country about 6 years ago. “I realized way back in 2002 that, for Estonia, the Internet could be just like electricity,” says Haamer, who along with a group of volunteers, created a non-profit association WiFi.ee. He started being a technology evangelist and started promoting free access to the Internet as a human right. “I took upon myself the task of convincing everyone I could that the benefits of Internet are enormous.”

Or BBC’s Tiny Estonia leads Internet revolution.

Boston launches Wi-Fi pilot; at least they launch a project.

And Boston Banks on Non-profit Model

While many in the muni Wi-Fi world are skeptical about a non-profit model, Boston is soldiering on in its attempt to “bridge the digital divide” by offering free or low-cost Wi-Fi to its residents using donated funds and equipment.

Singapore’s Wireless@SG:

Wireless@SG is a wireless broadband programme developed by IDA as part of its NextGeneration National Infocomm Infrastructure initiative. It will be run and developed in the next two years by three local wireless operators who will deploy a wireless broadband network in Singapore. Users can enjoy free, both in-door and outdoor seamless wireless broadband access with speeds of up to 512kbps at most public areas.

Closer to home, myKP:

at myKP we recognise that our local communities are our future and we are using the internet to stimulate economic and social growth in these communities. myKP are working with local governments and businesses to improve the general climate of our local communities with economic growth and create a positive environment for users.

myKP provides free wireless internet access in community centres, with a focus on providing users an opportunity to conveniently access the internet free of charge in their local community hotspots. in addition this provides local businesses the opportunity to take advantage of inexpensive online advertising that will help attract new customers to their business.

Lane Cove ALIVE signs with myKP to provide the Lane Cove Village area free wi-fi.
Pittwater Council signs with myKP to provide the Newport Village area free wi-fi.
Gilgandra Shire Council signs with myKP to provide Gilgandra’s Central Business District free wi-fi.

Another free Wifi project to keep an eye on, Hong Kong:

Government Wi-Fi Programme (GovWiFi) is one of the major initiatives under the 2008 Digital 21 Strategy to build Hong Kong into a wireless city. The Programme aims to provide free wireless Internet access services to all citizens by installing Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11 b/g) facilities at designated government premises.

We are progressively installing Wi-Fi facilities starting from early 2008 to mid 2009 at about 350 government premises in different districts. These premises include public libraries, Public Enquiry Service Centres, sports centres, cultural and recreational centres, job centres, community halls, large parks and Government joint-user buildings.