Telstra is creating Australia’s largest Wi-Fi network as part of a $100 million-plus strategy to increase connectivity in venues such as cafes, shops, sports grounds and transport hubs – and Newcastle is among the first cities to be part of the national roll-out.
The Telstra Wi-Fi service aims to offer Australians access to two million Wi-Fi hotspots across the nation within five years. Telstra is currently trialing the program in areas including Newcastle, Nelson Bay, Port Stephens and Forster-Tuncurry before it is implemented across other parts of the Hunter and the rest of the country throughout 2015.
The first Wi-Fi trials will be located at payphone sites in the heart of local communities, focusing on where people congregate and spend time – and they are easy to identify with pink domes positioned on the top of Telstra payphones in hotspot areas.
Beyond the trial, Telstra-built hotspots will be located at a variety of sites that provide the best access for communities, including Telstra retail outlets, exchange buildings and payphone sites.
Telstra Country Wide Area General Manager, Hunter and Central Coast, Chris Cusack, said Telstra’s plan to create Australia’s largest Wi-Fi network is taking shape.
“This trial in Newcastle is the beginning of our ambition to switch on more than two million hotspots across the nation and give customers the best Wi-Fi experience in and out of the home.
“We want customers to have the in-home Wi-Fi experience when they are out and about.
“From browsing the web, streaming videos or sharing photos with friends, we want people to have a taste of what the full network will be like next year when they can use their home broadband allowance out and about.
“Anyone who has a Wi-Fi enabled device can experience the beginnings of Australia’s largest Wi-Fi network. Users will be able to find out where their nearest hotspot is on telstra.com and logging on is as simple as clicking accepting the terms and conditions and clicking a single button.”
Access to Wi-Fi will be free in the trial sites until the network officially launches later this year.
At launch, Australians will be able to access Telstra Wi-Fi in a number of ways:
• Telstra home broadband customers with a compatible gateway who join the Wi-Fi community can use their home broadband allowance via domestic hotspots and connect to more than 13 million Fon-enabled hotspots globally.
• Non Telstra customers and Telstra customers who have not joined the Wi-Fi community will be able to connect to Fon-enabled Telstra Wi-Fi hotspots for a small charge using guest passes.
For further information visit http://www.telstra.com.au/broadband/wifi/