Free wi-fi access for Greater Manchester
Manchester City Council has asked wi-fi providers to tender for a new scheme to provide free access to 90 percent of Greater Manchester, or approximately 2.2 million people. The business section in today’s Times has a feature on it:
The most likely model is San Francisco, where Google has offered to fund basic wi-fi internet access provided by the operator EarthLink. Manchester has been in touch with the American project, which will supply coverage through a ‘mesh’ of small transmitters hidden in fixtures such as lampposts. One plan mooted in Manchester would involve a commercial partner offering similar free low-speed 256k connections to everyone inside the project’s boundaries.
As the article mentions, Manchester already has six wi-fi providers such as the Manchester Evening News-promoted The Cloud. The council is now proposing one larger system that is free to use.
Plans are due by January 8 and the council hope to roll the scheme out next summer. Funding will be both public and private, and is likely to involve the Digital Challenge initiative. One-Manchester is our local programme.
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So presumably this hasn’t quite happened yet. :/
By Josh on 06.19.09 5:20 pm
Predictions for 2007 | Radiolicious
[...] Wi-fi will change the way we listen to the radio: already, there are a few projects in the pipeline to bring free wi-fi access to various spots around the UK, most notably Norwich’s city centre scheme and the madcap plan by Manchester city council to bring free wireless access to the whole of the Greater Manchester area. In conjunction with the wi-fi receivers we’re already starting to see in the shops, as well as forthcoming products such as the rather ambitious Aussie Torian InFusion wi-fi receiving walkman, could the days of the traditional model of a large FM radio station broadcasting to millions be over? No — but I predict that by the end of the year it’ll certainly be possible to listen to all manner of obscure internet radio on the bus in Manchester, or even possibly download and listen to a podcast on-demand on the move. [...]
Where can you find free wi-fi access in Manchester city centre? » Mancubist: Life is good in Manchester
[...] Manchester City Council gets its act together with its free city-wide wireless access idea, and because I’ve got a new wi-fi-ready laptop, I thought it was about time we put together a [...]
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