The one thing that Fremantle’s cappuccino strip really needed was good quality wireless internet access.
Now there is. And it is free.
Barking Owl (my company) and Fremantle Technology have got together to create a really usable free WiFi service covering a good part of the cafe strip on South Terrace roughly from Gino’s Cafe to the Capri Restaurant, including Marconi’s, the Dome, Kulcha, etc. Coverage is best at tables outside but is quite usable indoors on the south/west side of the strip.
The service has a series of limits (traffic, bandwidth shaping, some blocked ports) to prevent big downloading and spamming.
Not enough to frustrate or annoy an email or web user, though, who will enjoy ADSL-like performance while sipping coffee of having a meal. As the service is in test at the moment, things may change, but basically it is there to be tested and enjoyed by the laptop and PDA carrying public in Fremantle.
We’ve invested some time and dollars to get things started, and we hope to raise sponsorship to extend and improve the service here in Fremantle.
Please email me with questions, queries or usage reports, and I’ll post more here about the service later.
Oh yes, and the next blogger meetup might have to be in Fremantle!
(And that’s why I’ve been quiet on the blogging front for a bit…. :-)
Pingback: Richard Giles blog
You should approach Notre Dame for sponsorship. They’re trying to please the Fremantle community, and supporting an excellent project like this would be worthwhile.
Pingback: Kick & Scream
You rule Graham.
I mean Graeme.
Well I’m married to him, so how cool does that make me! Hee hee. But seriously Gra and Jack – from a would-be geekette – you really do rock :-) … So when does the rest of the rising Creative Class move to Freo? In the words of the late great Starsky (& Hutch) – “Do it”. We want to play.
Pingback: Kick & Scream
Looking forward to trying this on my Holiday in November this year (IPAQ user)
Hey thats cool! I go to Freo for breakfast on the weekends and it would be cool to take my iBook with me! Thanks for the info.
Pingback: Daily
Pingback: Kitta.net Linkies
Slainte Graeme! For dragging Australia into the 21st century.. There are free wireless services all over Asia (eg Incheon Airport), in every US Starbucks, every French Macdonalds, in fact all over Canada, US and Europe and Telstra are still trying to screw the Australian public for A$15 an hour.
Great, that is just what I have been looking for! Thanks a lot! My family back home in Austria will hear more frequently from me now ;-)
Hi, great idea, but I’ve been having trouble connecting with an iBook on 802.11b airport card. Signal strength is great, pings work fine, but getting almost no data from HTTP or FTP. Can reach sites sporadically but can only recieve half a web page at best. Will try again soon and post results.
Just logged on in between classes at e-tech tafe, great service :D
What does this mean to the Internet cafes currently in existence. If wi fi is to either be free or be charged out and every second coffee and/or restaurant shop/hotel and the like, supply it for their customers. Would this mean Icafes soon to become extinct.
Just a thought, and my concern about selling or even providing free of charge technology mixed with other industries.
Tonight, we’ll go out for a bite to ABC coffee shop/restaurant. Yes good Idea, they have wi fi , I’ll bring my Laptop/pda. Whilist their we find hicups geting onto wi fi or perhaps they are down or maybe we may end up catching a virus and even worse their security isn’t really up to date someone taps in.
Expands your intellegence here and focus as a customer. Will that coffe shop be remembered for it’s coffee and great service or now will we be going out to these places in future saying ” yes we will go their, however I need to bring my pda and I had trouble getting on. Lets go to another place, I believe they have a better reception.”
What do you think people?
Sam,
Interesting thoughts you have. Seems to me you are saying that a coffee shop ought to be purely for coffee, with no other distractions. Fair enough.
Given that a newspaper or magazine is a distraction, and a technlogy, would you allow those in a coffee shop as well.
I don’t quite see why providing something for free is a problem? Would it be ok if it were charged for?
Great Wifi in Freo for Free!
Does anybody knows a wifi near of Scarborough?
Cheers Vini
vciocci@hotmail.com
I have also found FREE INTERNET at LEFTBANK APARTMENTS, near Sterling Bridge, Canning Highway, very fast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!