Reach Wireless, a New Zealand ISP, launched the largest Wi-Fi hotzone in the southern hemisphere. They are using technology from RoamAD. The hotzone covers the entire central business district of Auckland and allows anyone to access the Internet from offices, apartments, hotels, shops and caf?¬©s in a three square kilometer area. So how fast is the Reach Wireless network? I’ve Reach Wireless, a New Zealand ISP, launched the largest Wi-Fi hotzone in the southern hemisphere. They are using technology from RoamAD. The hotzone covers the entire central business district of Auckland and allows anyone to access the Internet from offices, apartments, hotels, shops and caf?¬©s in a three square kilometer area. So how fast is the Reach Wireless network? I’ve been told that users are getting one to two Mbps.
Best of all, it’s cheap compared to what T-Mobile and Swisscom Eurospot are charging in Europe for plain old hotspot access (let’s leave aside dissatisfaction with their service for now).
Reach Wireless is charging:
- NZ$8.50 (4.32 EUR) per hour;
- NZ$16.95 (8.62 EUR) per day;
- NZ$49.95 (25.42 EUR) per month for a light user; and
- NZ$74.95 (38.13 EUR) per month for uncapped use.T-Mobile Netherlands is charging:
- 6 EUR per hour;
- 24 EUR per day.Swisscom Eurospot Netherlands is charging:
- 9 EUR for two hours (4.50 EUR for 30 min);
- 29 EUR per day;
- 115 EUR per month; and
- 949 EUR per year.
Obviously with Swisscom and T-Mobile you get to use hotspots in various cities, not just in one so there is an added value of paying more, but my goodness, if you are just in Amsterdam or London for a day, ouch! Try not to think about Auckland’s Wi-Fi pricing.
To celebrate the network’s launch, Auckland’s Heart of the City (HOT City) and Reach Wireless are giving away one free hour of Wi-Fi access for one month to shoppers who make any purchase at any store within the Zone.
For more details about the deployment, read Metro-wide Wi-Fi in Auckland, New Zealand.
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