MuniWireless

Omni-directional Communication Products (OCP), a wireless ISP in Finland, has just opened its wireless hotzone in central Helsinki to the public. The network covers 4 square kilometers. I spoke to Antti Tapio of OCP today and he told me that they are looking at expanding the network throughout the city but have no dates on exactly when that will happen. Omni-directional Communication Products (OCP), a wireless ISP in Finland, has just opened its wireless hotzone in central Helsinki to the public. The network covers 4 square kilometers. I spoke to Antti Tapio of OCP today and he told me that they are looking at expanding the network throughout the city but have no dates on exactly when that will happen. They also have plans to deploy wireless hotzones in other Finnish cities.

OCP is charging 2 EUR per day, 7 EUR per week and 15 EUR per month for access. This is a special offer as part of their launch. To make it easy for users to log on, OCP does not require them to type in a username and password every time. The network will recognize the MAC address on your laptop or Wi-Fi device (assuming you used it to log on the first time). Eventually when they expand their network, OCP customers will be able to log on as easily in other cities where OCP also delivers wireless Internet access.

OCP is using only two Inspiair access points for outdoor and indoor coverage in this 4 square kilometer area. I spoke to Antti Tapio of OCP today and he says that while the restaurants and cafes in the coverage area get a strong signal (near the windows), it’s more difficult to get the signal inside buildings, especially the newer ones that have glass windows with metallic coating against sunshine. Older buildings with thick walls and insulation are also a challenge.

PhoneBoy recently wrote about his experience in Helsinki using OCP’s network where he was getting 3 Mbps (click here to read the post).