It’s a golden age for the internet, people. Telecommunications giant Telstra has officially begun trialling their huge and ambitious public WiFi network project by turning several popular public spaces into wireless internet hotspots.
As of yesterday, people will able to gain access to free 30 minute sessions of internet – each apparently boasting speeds of up to 2Mbps – in Sydney’s Hyde Park, Melbourne’s Federation Square, and Brisbane’s King George Square.
The project was announced back in May, and this trial represents the beginning of the rollout, which is projected to cost $100million and take up to four years to fully implement.
The company aims to install upwards of 8,000 public hotspots around the country, using pre-existing infrastructure like public payphones to get public spaces connected.
Once the project rolls out even further, Telstra customers will have the option of putting up their home connection for use as part of the broader public network – with personal bandwidth not affected, and public access elsewhere offered free of charge to those who sign up.
The end goal Telstra hopes to achieve is somewhere in the vicinity of 2 million publicly accessible hotspots across the country.
The project isn’t the first of its kind, however, with New Zealand and New York City already in the process of implementing similar re-appropriation schemes.
So there it is, kids. If for whatever reason you find yourself in desperate need of poking someone back, adjusting your fantasy sports lineup, reblogging a few Tumblr posts, or if the thrill of checking out a bit of pr0n in public gets your motor running, ya boiz at Telstra have got your back.
‘Course if you’re not a Telstra customer then you’ll have to fork over some cash to them to use it eventually. But, hey, we can’t all be on the winning team.
Photo: Jewel Samad via Getty Images.
via ZDNet.
