Swindon is set to become the UK’s first town to provide free wireless internet to all its residents.
The council of the Wiltshire town has teamed up with the private sector to install a wifi ‘mesh’ covering the whole of the borough of Swindon. People will be able to access the internet for free, however usage will be limited.
The wifi project, named Signal, will be run by Digital City UK – a company 35 per cent owned by Swindon Borough Council. The company hopes to roll out the technology in other locations across the UK.
Subscribers in Swindon will be given the option of signing up for 20Mb upgrades, which will cost less than services offered by major broadband providers. Visitors will also be able to open a pay-as-you-go account.
The leader of Swindon Borough Council, Rod Bluh, said: “This is a truly groundbreaking partnership which will have real benefits for everyone living in Swindon. Not only will residents in the Borough be able to access the internet for free, the council and its partners will be able to use the technology to provide cutting edge services to the areas or individuals who need them.”
Related services planned by the council include CCTV coverage that can be monitored remotely on a laptop, real-time information on home electricity usage and street-wide air quality monitoring.
The first phase of the free wifi network will be switched on in Highworth in early December, with the remainder due to be completed by the end of April.
Advertisement
Related Stories
- Rise of the planet of the apps Dec 15th 2011 at 2:18PM
- Little Printer produces personal 'newspaper' from web Nov 30th 2011 at 5:05PM
- New direction for Spotify? Nov 30th 2011 at 12:10PM
- New look PCR website gives you more Nov 9th 2011 at 2:17PM
- Firefox 8.0 released Nov 8th 2011 at 9:25PM
- Google launches Google+ Pages Nov 7th 2011 at 8:46PM
- Virgin says one third of the UK has access to 100Mb broadband Nov 6th 2011 at 10:52PM
- Music and film industry presses BT to block the Pirate Bay Nov 6th 2011 at 10:34PM
- Microsoft issues fix for critical Windows flaw Nov 4th 2011 at 7:20AM
- Google updates search to favor fresh results Nov 4th 2011 at 6:54AM
Follow Follow this article if you would like to receive notifications of updates.
Add a new comment
You need to be logged in to post comments. If you do not have an account then please register.
Comments
0 comments
There are no comments yet, be the first to add one!