A free wifi network is being created in the heart of Brighton and Hove with BT (British Telecom) working together with the council on the project.
The council said that 30 of the 40 wifi hotspots were already live in areas popular with shoppers and tourists. The final 10 are due to be switched on within months.
The “BrightonHovefreewifi” network will not only be free to residents, businesses and visitors but it won’t cost the council a penny either.
The council said: “Brighton and Hove City Council and BT have joined forces to make free wifi available at a range of locations across the city centre.
“The new outdoor network will cover the busiest areas for tourism, shopping and leisure, providing free wifi for local residents, hundreds of businesses and the 11.5 million people who visit the city each year.
“A total of 40 BT wifi hotspots will be available on completion of the project, allowing visitors and residents to get online while ‘on the go’ through their smart phones, tablets and laptops.
“Thirty of the wifi access points are now live, with the remaining ten due to be switched on later in the summer.
“The ‘BrightonHovefreewifi’ network will come at no cost to the council. In return, BT will get access to some of the city’s lamp posts and other street furniture, allowing the company to install new mobile infrastructure.”
The council said that the free wifi would cover much of the centre of Brighton. People should be able to use it in parts of Western Road, Queen’s Road, West Street, the North Laine, London Road and St James’s Street.
It will cover the seafront between the Palace Pier and the Hilton Brighton Metropole hotel. And there will be hotspots in front of Hove Town Hall in Church Road and at the top of George Street in Hove.
The council said: “People within range of the network will be able to tap into free wifi following a simple on-off log in.
“They will then be taken automatically to a landing page with links to the council website and VisitBrighton.com, the city’s main resource for visitor information.
“The council has chosen BT to build and manage the network for ten years. Access to the Brighton and Hove wifi service will be free and unlimited to all.
“The new service is part of the more than five million BT wifi hotspots already operating in locations across the UK including major cities such as Cardiff, Carlisle, Glasgow and Plymouth.”
The council’s own free wifi inside council bldgs is impossible to log into. Really complicated and paranoid seeming and even when you master it is says you need to be an authorised person to use it!!!!!!
People tell me the new parking by mobile is the same kind of labyrinthine mess.
What bout safety? Wifi signal going through brighton 24 hour a day? Then give bt license to put towers where they want. Yea i live beachfront, it is concerning
Who doesnt have wifi on there phone these days? What nonesence
Actually you have to pay for it out of your allowance on your phone.
David, catch a grip they don’t need towers to broadcast wifi. And wifi signals are everywhere along with mobile phone signals, radio waves and god knows what else. Move to a cabin in a forest if you don’t want to ‘expose’ yourself to these waves. Stop being negative.