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First Wi-Fi Town in UK is Swindon – Well Connected With Free Interweb Access

by Jay Garrett on November 17, 2009

Diana DorsThe Wiltshire town of Swindon has another claim to fame – other than being the birthplace of Diana Dors (hence the photo).

Swindon is also now to be crowned as the UK’s first Wi-Fi town – this means offering ‘free’ public Wi-Fi to all 186,000 residents.

By April 2010 the Wi-Fi “Signal” service will be in place and residents wont have to pay a penny for line rental or connection.

The deal is that peeping at low-bandwidth sites is free but users will be able to pay for a 20Mb upgrade. This fee would be “significantly less” than current broadband suppliers, scheme bosses estimate.

Downloading music files or streaming TV shows from iPlayer will inevitably cost extra, which will go some way to paying for the £1 million network which will be run by Digital City UK Ltd, in which Swindon Borough Council has a 35% share.

Over 1,400 Wi-Fi hot-spots will be erected, with work beginning in early December with the “Wi-Fi mesh” being completed by April next year.

Primarily aimed at residents, the Wi-Fi will also be available to visitors, albeit at a pay as you go price.

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Four Times More Interest in Apple 3G iPhone

by Jay Garrett on June 18, 2008

Apple iPhone 3GIf you were in any doubt; it looks like interest in the 3G iPhone is almost four times more than that generated by its 2G predecessor.

This comes direct from O2, Apple’s UK network partner for the device.

They say that over 130,000 people have pre-registered their interest in the new handset via O2’s website since the phone was unveiled a week ago.  Yup, that includes yours truly.

Compare that to the 35,000 people that pre-registered their interest in the previous phone between its unveiling on September 18 last year and November 9, when it went on sale in the UK.

Let’s face it.  The £269 initial price and being cuffed into an 18 month contract for the first iPhone was a bit scary, so Apple has allowed O2 to heavily subsidise the new handset giving it away ‘free’ on some contracts when it goes on sale on July 11.

O2 UK chief executive, Ronan Dunne, said that the cost of the 2G iPhone had been “an issue for some segments of the market”, but added that iPhone customers were spending 30% more a year on their mobile bills on average.

The fact that the iPhone has settled into a more standard UK mobile phone purchasing model and with that long awaited addition of 3G should see it breaking some records, if only those set by its trailblazing sibling.

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