Aug/Sept 2007

The era of universal free Wi-Fi internet access has been nudged a step closer with the launch of a free service along a 22km stretch of the river Thames between the West End and Greenwich.

The online-4-free.com service comes from two organisations - MeshHopper and free-hotspot.com. MeshHopper runs a Wi-Fi service called Thames Online, and the new free service has been built on top of this. It offers sponsored free access, and also continues to provide a paid-for (and advert-free) service, with prices starting at £2.95 per hour and ranging up to £9.95 a month.

online-4-free.com shows its coverage extending continuously over the whole stretch of the Thames, but it lists just over 20 key locations for its service, including one non-Thames location (Holborn), and it cautions that buildings may obstruct reception at some points.

free-hotspot.com previously focused on small networks at specific locations such as pubs and restaurants, which continue to be its main type of outlet. At the latest count there were about a hundred such locations in London.

 

As with the company's existing hotspots, the new system is funded by short bursts of advertising, which users have to watch when they log on. The Ford Motor Company has taken the opportunity to sponsor all free-hotspot locations in London for an undisclosed period, as well as the new online-4-free.com service, in order to promote its new Mondeo car.

It is not clear yet how ubiquitous such services need to be before they are seen as a viable replacement for GPRS and other technologies in mobile commerce applications, but extended coverage of this kind can only add to the appeal of the technology.