Free wi-fi for Weymouth is Olympic perk (From Thisisdorset)
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Free wi-fi for Weymouth is Olympic perk
11:30am Monday 7th May 2012 in Latest By Laura Kitching
Gareth Jones
WEYMOUTH town centre and seafront are being fast-tracked into the digital age ahead of the Olympic and Paralympic Sailing events.
The borough council and West Dorset District Council have secured a free deal with a Cloud technology service so that residents and visitors can access wi-fi internet technology while on the beach and in the town centre.
It means that people with smartphones, tablets and laptops can use the internet for free for up to 30 minutes a day or subscribe with the Cloud service to get longer wi-fi access.
The new technology has been hailed as ‘a brilliant opportunity for Weymouth’.
Sailing spectators will be able to keep track of the sailors using their smart phones while watching the action on the big screens at the free public site on Weymouth Beach and the ticketed spectator site at the Nothe Gardens.
Gareth Jones, economic regeneration officer for both councils, said the town will be one of just a handful of places outside London using the hi-tech Cloud technology.
He said: “The councils have secured a deal with BSkyB’s Cloud service to enable residents and visitors to Weymouth to access free wi-wi internet in the town centre and beach.
“It will allow anyone to use the internet free for up to 30 minutes a day on any device with wi-fi capabilities such as smartphones, tablets and laptops.
“Those wishing to use the service for longer than 30 minutes a day would require a subscription, however people wanting to access council, health and education websites will have unlimited access.
“The service comes as no cost to the council and will be run by BSkyB.
“This is a brilliant opportunity for Weymouth and it is one of just a handful of places in the UK outside London that will be able to use the Cloud network.”
Organisers say the traditionally non-spectator sport of sailing should more watchable than ever before with race-tracking technology on all the boats, close camera action and a medal race that is as close as possible to the shore by the Nothe.
The network will be able to deliver internet speeds of up to 5Mbps.
The service is expected to be launched next month and will continue to run after the Olympics and Paralympics.
The borough is expected to attract 60,000 people a day during the Olympics, according to Olympic Delivery Authority estimates.
Visitors will be able to access websites while on the move.
Live updates on websites such as Travel Dorset and the council-run dorsetforyou.com/sailing2012 aim to play a key role in the smooth running of the unique event.
Tariffs for Cloud’s subscription service are available on the website thecloud.net/wifi
Comments(38)
monkeydog
says...
11:54am Mon 7 May 12
IDONTKNOWIFITISTRRUE
says...
12:04pm Mon 7 May 12
terra firma
says...
12:04pm Mon 7 May 12
ohcetesrod
says...
12:05pm Mon 7 May 12
IDONTKNOWIFITISTRRUE
says...
12:10pm Mon 7 May 12
Which games?
terra firma
says...
12:10pm Mon 7 May 12
notweymouth
says...
12:15pm Mon 7 May 12
terra firma wrote:yes would prefer to see wee-wee prioritised over wi-fi !
all you need now is a few half decent public loos!
AManFromMars
says...
12:22pm Mon 7 May 12
I'd prefer to use my own network than give any money to Murdoch.
ZacJones
says...
12:23pm Mon 7 May 12
ZacJones
says...
12:27pm Mon 7 May 12
AManFromMars wrote:Yes agree 30 minutes is an insult. It's just a way of getting you to subscribe. They could give an hour or two easily.
30 minutes free? London Underground get 60 minutes free with Cloud. Weymouth being sold short again as per usual.
I'd prefer to use my own network than give any money to Murdoch.
kwhat
says...
12:44pm Mon 7 May 12
portland rebel
says...
1:02pm Mon 7 May 12
maybe he should get off his arse and have a look around the area...
wessex-andy
says...
1:24pm Mon 7 May 12
Or maybe use the park and ride instead?
I thought not.
Marcusontherock
says...
1:55pm Mon 7 May 12
So unnecessary... Please can we sort the stuff that matters before we get any extra burdens to pay for and maintain?
ian king
says...
2:10pm Mon 7 May 12
If this is genuinely FREE wi-fi and available on the beach and town center for walking users long after the Olympics , I think that would be a good thing for tourism. 30 Minutes is plenty of time for a skype video call, an email or a picture status update etc.
P.S when are they going to get some decent streaming webcams in the area?
monkeydog
says...
2:24pm Mon 7 May 12
ijwufo68
says...
5:15pm Mon 7 May 12
Xcabie
says...
5:43pm Mon 7 May 12
ZacJones wrote:I have BT Broadband and have setup/activated BtFon which gives me Broadband (on my own account) where ever there is a BTFon hotspot. Sadly I haven’t found one in town yet.
If you have Sky Broadband Plus you get Full Cloud access free. If you are a BT Customer I would wait and see, hopefully the BT Openzone will be up and running! So you can access via that. There are various rates of subscription to Cloud, the main one being £9.95 a month.
boobooweymouth
says...
6:00pm Mon 7 May 12
Marcusontherock wrote:This is about ten times faster than standard connections so is very welcome!
um... Just a suggestion, but perhaps we could do something about suffering businesses, stores and services oh and finally get the bridge sorted before we think about wifi. If people are that desperate to get online with their MOBILE DEVICES, they'll use their data allowance on their MOBILE or tablet or whatever.
So unnecessary... Please can we sort the stuff that matters before we get any extra burdens to pay for and maintain?
weymouthfox
says...
7:40pm Mon 7 May 12
Good PR for cloud but a misleading headline.
jmc1
says...
7:59pm Mon 7 May 12
boobooweymouth wrote:Where do you get the 10 times faster than normal connections,I live outside Weymouth and get 5.4
Marcusontherock wrote:This is about ten times faster than standard connections so is very welcome!
um... Just a suggestion, but perhaps we could do something about suffering businesses, stores and services oh and finally get the bridge sorted before we think about wifi. If people are that desperate to get online with their MOBILE DEVICES, they'll use their data allowance on their MOBILE or tablet or whatever.
So unnecessary... Please can we sort the stuff that matters before we get any extra burdens to pay for and maintain?
boobooweymouth
says...
8:51pm Mon 7 May 12
Debbie Peach
says...
9:30pm Mon 7 May 12
I'mavoter
says...
11:18pm Mon 7 May 12
ZacJones wrote:I agree, it's just a scam to get you to sign up for 'pay monthly wi-fi'.
AManFromMars wrote:Yes agree 30 minutes is an insult. It's just a way of getting you to subscribe. They could give an hour or two easily.
30 minutes free? London Underground get 60 minutes free with Cloud. Weymouth being sold short again as per usual.
I'd prefer to use my own network than give any money to Murdoch.
I'm with BT, and already get free wi-fi with my broadband package.
Don't fall for it folks !
ZacJones
says...
1:15am Tue 8 May 12
Another thing I went into a couple of bars on the sea front, Lazy Lizard was one of them, to see if they have a Wi-Fi connection, yes they did, but it is private, I asked if I could use it and was told no, in fact the person didn't really have a clue what I was talking about. You can travel all around Asia and get free Wi-Fi in all bars and restaurants, but not in most of UK. Witherspoons you can get their free wi-fi, and of course in the coffee shops, but some of the bars on the sea front really need to SWITCH ON, their wi-fi in doesn't cost them a penny if they have Broadband already, which they all mostly have.
So lets have some proper investigation into this, rather than printing the nice story which is nothing other than a advertisement scam which happens to sell newspapers!
Duckorange
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7:57am Tue 8 May 12
chesilboy
says...
9:41am Tue 8 May 12
Apart from that it's a positive thing, why complain? Good for you if you have your own wifi solution - you should be even less concerned.
As for suggesting that we finish the town bridge before investigating communication solutions for an event on the world stage. Well, feel free to stand for council. Good luck with doing one thing at a time...
wessex-andy
says...
9:52am Tue 8 May 12
RobinofLocksley
says...
9:56am Tue 8 May 12
Duckorange wrote:Absolutely - it would be contributing to our great nation's dreadful obesity problem. Now, if Green and Blacks started handing out their 80% cocoa stuff that would be a different thing altogether, even if it was only free for 30 minutes.
Typical Weymouth whinging. If Cadbury's rolled into town and started handing out free bars of Dairy Milk, there'd be letters in the Echo complaining that there was no plain chocolate.
portland6
says...
10:58am Tue 8 May 12
chesilboy
says...
11:24am Tue 8 May 12
“The service comes as no cost to the council and will be run by BSkyB."
Give Murdoch a ring....?
markerpen
says...
3:35pm Tue 8 May 12
pd7
says...
9:16pm Tue 8 May 12
All thoses nasty people setting up local wifi honey traps .
Dont they know wifi is past its sell by date .
Public access wifi , never
simon26r
says...
12:53am Wed 9 May 12
Load of rubish. I'm sticking to my 3.4mb download speed from t-mobile.
Set your phone to not allow gms and you can get a full hspa+ signal all over Weymouth and Portland.
TenBobDylanThomasHardy
says...
8:22pm Thu 10 May 12
simon26r
says...
10:18am Fri 11 May 12
Even the cash machines have card readers on. If you have important data on your device use your own connection like t-mobile Vodafone ect.
maximan
says...
10:33am Fri 11 May 12
monkeydog says...
11:52am Mon 7 May 12