Telstra begins national Wi-Fi roll out with 1000 ‘trial sites’ expected before Christmas
Telstra has started to roll out its national Wi-Fi network after today switching on the first 150 hotspots, with 1,000 ‘trial sites’ expected to be available by Christmas.
The move marks the beginning of a $100m plan by the telco to offer two million hotspots across the country within five years.
The first have been made available in some of Australia’s busiest locations including Bourke Street Mall in Melbourne, Hyde Park in Sydney and King George Square in Brisbane.
The 1,000 trial areas will be located at payphone sites in the “heart of local communities” while future Telstra-build hotspots will also be located at Telstra retail outlets and exchange buildings.
There’s always a sting in the tail (conversely, there ain’t nothing for nothing).
Looked pretty good until I got to “we want customers to have a taste of what the network will be like next year when Telstra Wi-Fi members will be able to use their home broadband allowance at the hotspots.”
Oh, so it won’t be like going into Maccas or Starbucks or even your local coffee shop and logging onto free wifi. You will pay for it through your home broadband allowance. And if that’s a limited allowance, you’ll end up paying Telstra even quicker because when you’re currently away from home, you aren’t going over your limit.
Thanks for nothing (literally!), Telstra.
Geez, Rrrosco, you really want that free lunch, don’t you?