Proposed Free WiFi for Waterford City

Swinng

Lets hope they can get the funds for a good project

Call for free Wifi service in Waterford City.

A City Councillor has proposed setting up a free WiFi service in Waterford City centre.Cllr. Seamus Ryan has requested that a feasibilitystudy be carried out into the cost of establishing the service. He said that a growing number of cities are offering a free WiFi service.The motion was met with unanimous support from councillors, however city manager Michael Walsh said that setup costs were prohibitive.Seamus Ryan said that costs could be shared with local business

http://www.wlrfm.com/news-and-sport/waterford-news.html

kensutz

So it's not actually free wifi for Waterford but a proposition. Misleading thread title.

Swinng

Sorry kensutz updated the title there

Max Powers

other cities have and done this. This story was in the local papers about a year ago. It would be good but lack of funds and headline hungry councillors is probably the main things happening here

wobbles

No need for this at all in Waterford. 95% of people have access to the internet on their mobile as it is. This just puts extra costs on the local business's who are already under pressure

Potential-Monke

And a lot of busnesses are already offering free wi-fi, and it should be up to the shops to offer it as an incentive to get people in there. What's to stop the people living in the city from abusing the service? If they get free wi-fi, i want it at my house too.

jad2007

Its very easy issue a call for anything when your not the one paying for it, Couldnt see this happening with all the cuts the council are facing.

Cabaal

It sounds lovely and all but I have to agree that this is a waste of money,

So many people these days of a 3G mobile which can be very easily used as a access point for other devices such as laptops for internet access. By the time you have a decent wifi network setup and established it'll be passed out by 4G (ok perhaps not in Ireland that quick )

If a local business like a cafe or pub wants to setup wifi then by all means they should do so if they think it'll bring people in but I don't think its that big attraction anymore due to availability of smart phones.

Sully

I have a Nexus which is WiFi only, so it would come in handy in that regard. 3G Internet in Ireland isn't great either. I'd prefer more businesses offered free WiFi and none of that 'kinda free' crap where you need to sign up, get X free minutes and so on.

Swinng

Dublin has kicked off its free WIFI

http://www.thejournal.ie/dublin-free-wifi-digidub-775492-Jan2013/

The free version of the service provides a download speed of 512Kbps and an upload speed of 128Kbps. A premium service also exists, as follows:

24-hour rate (use within one month) 3Mbps – €5
One month (24hrs per day) 3Mbps – €10
Flat rate (365 days no time limit) 6Mbps €8 per month

fricatus

I think this would be a great idea. Not much use for locals who already have 3G plans, and with the capacity limits, there's no way someone living in the city centre would be downloading the latest season of Breaking Bad.

However where it would be a real boon is for tourists. It would be such a nice sweetener for anyone coming from abroad to be able to use Wi-Fi for small stuff on their phones and iPads, like Facebook and Twitter, or reading the news from home, checking their online banking, etc.

I was in Australia a couple of years ago, and it drove me cracked that there was bugger-all free Wi-Fi anywhere (especially in such an advanced country that everyone raves about!). All I wanted to do was see what was in the news, what we had in the bank account, etc. Myself and herself spent nearly an hour one day sitting at a bus stop outside the Apple Store in Sydney just catching up online!

I think it would be fantastic for Waterford to offer (and publicise) such a service. Obviously it would need to be costed, but it's worth looking into for its tourism benefit potential. It would be nice for Waterford to be first in the country with something like that too - I can't see people in Galway thinking it's a bad idea for example!

decies

This free wifi in shops etc is a joke half the time the staff don't seem to know the bloody password and moan and groan if you ask them , my 3 g on three normally does the job except my friend Jeeves who wets himself when he sees free wifi anyways .

Lawnkiller

Been to a good few cities around Europe as far back as 2008 with free WiFi. Local businesses had a single municipally branded service with premium options as a way to attract people to their premises. Cafes and restaurants would use it to attract informal meetings, shops for customers to arrange meetings/share pics of clothes, etc.

As was pointed out, a good few businesses do this already so letting them pool their efforts and grow the network might help revitalise the city centre. While 3G coverage is good in the city centre, its generally no use to tourists which are the kind of folks we want staying around there. It shouldn't be expensive to implement (unless someone does a really bad job of it) and could help out a city centre on its knees.

Swinng

Look like Cork is getting it now

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/cork-to-benefit-from-free-wifi-596095.html

Media999

Even when its free and doesnt affect them people find a reason to complain.

fuzzy dunlop

I think the first three or four negative posts on this are depressing to say the least. I think any fair minded person who posts on this forum must know by now that the bona fides of a lot of posters on this site are dubious to say the least. There reason to be seems to pour cold water on any positive proposal made for the city. Or lend support to those who do by "thanking" their posts!.In some cases it is as if they think we can't see their posting history to see where their own "actual" regional forum is. It is quite the eye opener to see who the vindictive little parasites that are ruining this forum actually come from. This proposal is becoming the norm in most progressive cities. It is a good proposal and would be worth the cost in the long term. The whole purpose of it is to make the city more people friendly which it would. There is no good reason not to have this as a goal. It is the way the world is going or are we continuously going to try and hold back the tide in Waterford in every shape or form aided and abetted by our adversaries.

Media999

Yep. 95% of people have 3G me arse. Closer to 5%

Think of tourists who wont have a local sim being able to upload photos and whatever to facebook. Take that stuff for granted in the big cities.

Sully

Media999 wrote: »

Yep. 95% of people have 3G me arse. Closer to 5%

Think of tourists who wont have a local sim being able to upload photos and whatever to facebook. Take that stuff for granted in the big cities.

I frequently upload photos to Facebook in Tramore through mobile internet, 99% without hassle.
(I assume I can make this comment as I am from Waterford?)

Big Lar

Media999 wrote: »

Think of tourists who wont have a local sim being able to upload photos and whatever to facebook. Take that stuff for granted in the big cities.

I totally agree here. if tourists could upload pics to facebook and what not then it is free advertising for the city.

gctest50

This kinda thing is what you need :


http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayTopic.do?topicId=30549

https://www.bt.com/wifi/secure/index.do?s_cid=con_FURL_btfon


"The Wi-Fi community built by you
Get wireless broadband at hundreds of thousands of locations in the UK and across the world by simply sharing some of yours."

Very do-able now that VDSL and 50ish meg is here

Last thing you need is some mickey mouse ad supported / ridiculously limited crap jamming up the airwaves


.

ziedth

fuzzy dunlop wrote: »

It is quite the eye opener to see who the vindictive little parasites that are ruining this forum actually come from.

When the MOD team stated that we no longer would be accepting personal abuse of anyone on this forum it was not a polite suggestion. Making the abuse vague is just as unacceptable.

Banned for two weeks.