IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

A North East city is set to become one of the UK’s most connected urban centres thanks to a new digital initiative.

Newcastle City Council has partnered with connectivity specialist Purple to roll out a city-wide free Wi-Fi network, giving residents, students and visitors seamless access across council buildings, gyms, libraries, public spaces and commercial venues.

The system is powered by Purple’s ConneX App, which allows users to log in once and roam freely across hundreds of hotspots without repeat sign-ins, tackling frustrations often linked to public Wi-Fi.

Londonderry was one of the first cities in Europe to be fully wireless enabled. Even London's financial district lagged behind.

But now an expert has warned that the city's status as a flagship project is under threat from a proposed Bill at Westminster, and that that the Bill could also impact on the university.

Technology experts have raised concerns about the security of the City of London’s new WiFi network.

The network, turned on last week (Computing, 26 April), covers the heart of London’s financial district, serving more than 350,000 people, comprising 127 nodes, and offering 95 per cent coverage to the area.

University College London Hospitals (UCLH) Trust has installed a 7,000-user wireless network as part of a project to replace paper processes with electronic patient records (EPR).

The network, supplied by Aruba, will support UCLH’s EPR system across eight hospitals, including the newly built University College Hospital site.

Westminster City Council is to extend its wireless network to cover wider parts of London's West End offering remote working services to its staff, it announced on 24 May 2005.

The length of Upper Street, Islington, has been blanketed with free wireless internet access, courtesy of the local council. It is London's biggest hotzone, and typical of things happening around the world - though there is less agreement about who should pay for them. In a US city, for example, Islington's launch would cause political outrage, but in other countries, it would pass unnoticed. Finland, for instance, has hundreds of square kilometres of continuous Wi-Fi coverage in its major cities.

University College London Hospitals (UCLH) NHS Trust is creating what is said to be the UK's largest wireless network covering 7,000 users across eight sites, it was announced on 15 September 2005.

Bridgend County Borough Council in south Wales is to set up a WiFi network (which operates under the WiFi Alliance) aimed at meeting the objectives set out in the government's action plan to tackle the digital divide.

The deal, signed with WiFi provider The Cloud is for a network which will be unique in England and Wales as the only council-sponsored WiFi service where use is not restricted to the customers of one service provider.

Immer mehr US-Städte errichten ihre eigene drahtlose Internet-Infrastrastruktur, um ihren Einwohnern gratis oder günstig Internet-Zugang zur Verfügung zu stellen.

The kiosks provide free international phone calls, as well as Wi-Fi connectivity, and can charge cellphones.

International phone calls are expensive. But in Newark, N.J., you can make them for free. All you need to do is walk over to one of the city's newly installed kiosks in neighborhoods across the city.

“Free is pretty good,” quipped Martin O’Malley, the former mayor of Baltimore and governor of Maryland, as he moderated a panel discussion in mid-October at the 2018 MetroLab Network Summit on the campus of the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) in Newark.

The New Orleans City Council Thursday has opened a formal investigation into Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s plan to provide free WiFi services in the city over concerns top members of her administration are personally benefiting from the plan.

The council approved the investigation Thursday on a five to zero vote. An initial hearing will be held next week.

Donald Trump's nasty attack on John McCain's heroic war record had one positive side effect: It shined a renewed spotlight on how our nation treats its veterans.

As the VA reels from scandal, veterans languish for months or years on waiting lists before receiving the treatment they need, and old systems for claims and benefits creak under the weight of the massive influx of post-Iraq and Afghanistan vets, virtually everyone agrees we must do better for those who have given our country so much.

A public/private partnership in Tucson, Ariz., is closing the digital divide by not only connecting more than 32,000 of the city’s 212,000 households without reliable internet access, but also powering up Tucson’s smart city strategy.

The city and Insight Enterprises are within weeks of completing Phase I of a municipal wireless broadband solution using the Citizen Broadband Radio Service network, a band of radio-frequency spectrum from 3.5 GHz to 3.7 GHz that the Federal Communications Commission has designated for incumbent, priority and general authorized access. Insight’s Cloud + Data Center Transformation team provides project management and long-term managed services over the single solution that combines technologies from multiple providers.

The San Diego City Council Tuesday approved plans to install at least 50 interactive kiosks designed to help visitors and residents navigate the city.

The partnership with Interactive Kiosk Experience Smart City is expected to generate nearly $15 million in revenue for the city and $7 million for the Downtown San Diego Partnership through advertising.

The first working prototype of the digital wayfinding and out-of-home advertising kiosk program has been made available for Santa Monica residents to inspect, examine and evaluate and we went along to prod, play and put it to the test ourselves.

Officially known as the Digital Wayfinding and Out-of-Home Advertising Kiosk Program, the initiative was first introduced in early 2020, shortly before the pandemic, but the proposal was temporarily shelved until November 2022, when Council selected a company to install, operate and maintain the network of kiosks. A company called BIG Outdoor beat the competition and was awarded the exclusive franchise in December 2022. However, one of the companies spurned by the selection process, IKE Smart City, threatened legal action, accusing BIG of exaggerating their qualifications and copying other company’s intellectual property as it related to the kiosks.

Public Wi-Fi may not be the game-changer some people anticipated, but that doesn’t mean residents won’t have solid Internet options as more cities compete to become tech hubs.

A few years ago, everyone was thrilled by the concept of free public Wi-Fi. Cities and businesses were collaborating to blanket busy shopping districts with coverage, and many people envisioned a beautiful wireless paradise. Then, reality set in.