London is moving into the 21st century at long last, far behind London-by-the-Sea (also known as Brighton...). How, you ask? Because from Thursday 30 November, Leicester Square will have 24-hour free WiFi, 7 days a week.
Maybe I find this news more exciting than I really should, as a blogging obsessive who never travels without her laptop - and who had grown nicely accustomed to the free WiFi on Brighton beach, thank you very much - but the fact that central London now has a (somewhat) aesthically-appealing, easy-to-find, free WiFi hotspot has me dancing in my chair.
Yes, it probably will be spring before I get round to checking it out IRL, and I do question the sense in launching this at the end of November - what were they thinking? - but boy am I glad to know it's there.
We should all bow down in gratitude to those kind bods at PR firm Four Communications, who have provided the 8Mbps service, and whose only restriction is a fair-use policy. So no heading down there to illegally share files. Not that you would, of course.
"No longer will you have to purchase a coffee, a burger, or confusingly priced vouchers to access the web," said the firm in an announcement. And as someone whose previous job saw them spend far too many days in Starbucks when all other WiFi had failed me, I am eternally grateful to their generous spirits.
Four Communcations' Phil Ryan said: “Working in technology PR it’s been a bugbear of mine for some time, the number of different hotspots across the capital and the fact that most of them were either too expensive or reliant on you purchasing another product or service. I’ve worked on projects for clients in other parts of Europe that enabled free WiFi access to whole areas within a city, or even whole towns. It seemed that somewhere as well known as Leicester Square should have a free access point for people to use how they wish and when they wish. It may well not be the capital’s first free hotspot zone, but we think it has potential to be the most high profile and widely used.
“We hope to see as many people use the service as possible, whether it’s to surf the internet, access work or personal emails, make a free VoIP call or just to chat online using a messenger programme. Who knows, we might even see the Square become a real hot spot for online networking as more people learn about the service and start to take advantage of it. We have even set up a helpline number, 0845 453 3543, should anyone have difficulties accessing the service.”
To get WiFi in the square, just haul your laptop or WiFi-capable device down to Leicester Square from tomorrow, and search for "Four's Free Hotspot".
Awesome. Street performers and free wifi. And I thought Venice Beach was the only location with that combo.
It's great, isn't it? I can't wait for the weather to improve so I can take advantage, although I'm sure Venice Beach wins on that count...
That free WiFi on Brightn beach is known as piertopier.net. We may only have one-and-a-half piers left, but we still have the WiFi.
You may only have 1.5 piers left, but you've got a better view than we do. I really miss Brighton, and not just the WiFi.
How about street performance USING free WiFi? That raises some interesting possibilities :)
What a plan! I'd never have thought of that, but it's brilliant. Performers could stream live to YouTube, getting a global audience for a local performance.
You can't stream lived to YouTube but we get the idea.
Big deal, my for my phone goes online all over London, in fact all over the country (even tho' I wont leave the city unless I leave the country) for like £7/$15 a month.
I bet you're not on Vodafone, are you? They're the bane of my mobile existence!
very good