Free Wi Fi plan for city centre.

[999tigger]

It depends on the price. But it cant be that expensive to provide bb in the main shopping areas. It would be a plus for the city centre and busineeses could chip in as well, because it would have people hanging around for longer. Internet these days is not really a luxury, but more of a utility.

[adamf]

Dont see the harm in trying if it isnt going to cost anything.

 

The harm is more visual pollution (advertising).

[onlineo]

Just like shoppers who can afford a car but baulk at paying parking charges. How disappointed are their family & friends when it comes o presents? "I was going to get you a .... but refused to pay the £1.40 parking fee."

 

I tend to find it is the children or youth who struggle. They often get nice phones as presents but can't have a contract unless on a parents contract. They then use 100 gb in the fist week and parents realise that the monthly payments will be in excess of £100 and decide it's best that the kid is pay as you go.

 

I think the wifi idea is a good one but it depends on how it's implemented. Still I doubt I would bother using it as only use 2 gb a month on a 15gb tariff so no need.

[dillm]

All it will mean if this project takes off is that people will sit in the city centre and buy shopping on line after checking store prices

[kaytie]

Since the subject of free buses has come up, there is currently such a scheme in central Manchester linking the stations and central hotels etc.

[Guest busdriver1]

It did in the 70s when buses were cheap plus it's still used to subsidise the buses now.

 

Myth, it is used to subsidise a tiny minority of bus services, the vast majority are run commercially with no subsidy of any type.

[the_bloke]

It depends on the price. But it cant be that expensive to provide bb in the main shopping areas. It would be a plus for the city centre and busineeses could chip in as well, because it would have people hanging around for longer. Internet these days is not really a luxury, but more of a utility.

 

The initial install is going to be painful compared to the long term running of the system. You can't just chuck a wireless router in a shop window and think job done; there is talk about the access points being attached to lamp posts, the gateway needs to be secure and handle a heavy amount of traffic else it's unusable, it needs someone to administer and support it all.

 

I'd be estimating 50 to 75 grand costs in the first 12 months. That's a lot of names and search histories to sell. Plus it's in direct competition to other shop and network open wireless access points, which also want to harvest your data.

[onlineo]

Sheffield council are planning to provide free Wi Fi in the city centre they are hoping that an company will do this for free in exchange for usage of council owned assets like lampposts for advertising or singal use.

 

Is this really nesseary at present you can use the Internet at libraries or Internet cafes or even on Wi Fi able buses other UK cities have this already. Personally I doubt I would use it or encourage me to stay longer in the city centre.

 

I have seem much worse proposals from the council. In fact as long as there is no adverts on our lampposts I think it's a good idea.

 

The central library is currently rather run down and you have to pre book a computer in advance and it is planned to be turned into a 5* hotel, with no firm plan as yet for a replacement (budget library ). I don't think there are any Internet cafés in the city centre.

But neither of these lead to people uploading fun photos of sunny Sheffield City centre online or stopping with a friend and sharing a YouTube video on a phone for 5 mins. All these things can be done on wifi for free in Meadowhall or many other city centres. I wouldn't use it as have plentiful data on my contract but that doesn't mean it's not a good idea.