Perth brings free wi-fi to city streets

The City of Perth is the latest to offer free wi-fi internet services in public spaces, announcing a network that "blankets" several streets of the central business district.

Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi said the network would enable residents and tourists to "move around the city while staying connected", reducing reliance on "random hotspots".

"We will continue to expand this network over time to other key city precincts which will eventually include the Perth City Link area, Northbridge and East and West Perth," she said.

The network cost $300,000 to install and maintenance and other ongoing costs are expected to run to about $150,000 a year, according to ABC News.

The terms of use specify that the service can be used for "basic browsing", though there is no hard daily quota limit as with similar services on the eastern seaboard.

There is an individual session limit of 50MB or one hour, but users can simply reconnect after each session expires to stay online.

Late last month, Sydney's Marrickville Council rolled out a free wi-fi service in municipal parks that offers up to 200MB of free wi-fi per day.