WiFi for all
Swindon, a town in Wiltshire most famous as the site of Isambard Kingdom Brunel's railway works, and also for the baffling "Magic Roundabout" road junction, has become the first town in Britain to promise free WiFi internet access to all its residents.
Swindon Borough Council has partnered with networking firm aQovia and is putting up 1,400 access points around the town which is approximately one access point for every hundred residents. It is claimed it will offer WiFi speeds of up to 20MB which would be a considerable increase over most ADSL lines. The council is also discussing a scheme for providing recycled and refurbished computers to homes which do not currently have them.
However, reading the detail, it appears this isn't as free as it sounds. All residents will be able to access email for free and will get basic web access, but with limitations which are yet to be confirmed but will probably limit free users to two hours per day maximum usage. The free service will also block video media and other high-traffic services such as VOIP. To get access to the full speed unrestricted service, subscribers will have to pay a fee, much as you would to any other service provider. There will also be a Pay As You Go option for visitors to the town. The council has taken a 35% stake in the venture and therefore hopes this service will pay for itself in future.
The business model of the service does not depend on the WiFi network itself but on the bundled services that the company would resell over the network. It said that Google and Microsoft products would be resold to customers, along with security products and "energy monitoring and intervention products".
I feel that price is likely to be the deciding factor in the success or failure of this project. Can it be cheaper than getting broadband over your phone line? Does Swindon have enough users without ADSL to justify WiFi? Should it instead be offering a landline subsidy to poorer families? And should councils be taking stakes in private companies and trying to turn Cloud Service into a revenue stream?
25th November 2009
This article comes from the SKILLZONE email newsletter, published monthly since January 2008, and covering topics related to technology and the internet. All articles and artwork in the SKILLZONE newsletter are orignal content.