27 September 2023

Public Wi-Fi goes viral

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Canberra’s free public Wi-Fi network (CBRFree) is to expand as work has begun to add suburbs to the program.

Announced by Chief Minister, Andrew Barr the CBRfree network is being expanded to cover every Canberra town centre, 16 group centres and a number of popular community locations and businesses.

“As part of this rollout, the download limit is being increased from 250MB to 1GB per day per device to allow people to browse the internet for around 12 hours, stream 200 songs or watch two hours of video,” Mr Barr said.

“During COVID-19, internet access has been particularly vital, with the ACT Government providing free internet access to around 600 ACT public school students studying from home who did not already have access,” he said.

“The CBRfree Wi-Fi network will support a range of smart city initiatives which will benefit the ACT community, including support to 30 Public Safety CCTV cameras to help make our city and suburban town centres even safer.”

Mr Barr said the network currently involved 334 Wireless Access Points (WAPs) across the territory, which gave commuters, businesses, students and visitors widespread access.

“This will be increased to 415 when the network is complete,” he said.

“iiNet also provides an additional 63 indoor WAPs located in business premises across Canberra.”

He said the network would be extended to more parts of Gungahlin, as well as the group centres of Amaroo; Calwell; Chisholm; Erindale; Hawker; Jamison; Kaleen; Kambah; Kingston; Kippax; Lanyon; Mawson; Wanniassa; and Belconnen Basketball Centre.

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