Wollongong, Point Cook roll out free wifi

Wollongong City Council has rolled out free wifi in the regional centre’s CBD.

The project, which went live this week, is intended to augment the availability of the National Broadband Network, which is set to become available in the city centre later this year.

According to a Wollongong City Council representative, a local systems integrator, MCT Solutions, was chosen to roll out the service and provide ongoing maintenance.

The representative was unable to comment on the length of the contract offered to MCT, nor its price.

MCT is rolling out hardware in the CBD provided by Ruckus Wireless. MCT boss Adam Murphy said Ruckus is well-placed to provide public wifi services, as it had provided connectivity during the London Olympics.

In related news, service provider DC4G has completed its rollout of free wifi in the Sanctuary Lakes Shopping Centre, at Point Cook in Victoria.

“Retail Free Wi-Fi has matured so much in recent years that it is driving in store behaviour for many retailers. We’re seeing thunderous results and mobile devices is truly the channel traditional and online retailers need to be focused on,” said Damien Martin, wifi evangelist at DC4G, in a statement.

According to Martin, the service, which has just been switched on, has already dealt 20,000 individual session requests.

As with other DC4G roll-outs, the company intends to upgrade the service with the EagleEye MiVoucher platform, which offers location based services, vouchers and freebies to shoppers over wifi within the shopping centre.