Dublin Lord Mayor to generate innovation with free wifi launch

Dublin will launch the first of 12 free wifi spots across the city beginning today as it aims to boost its digital credentials.

The free wifi is an initiative of Dublin City Council provided by technology company Gowex. A free 24-hour, seven day a week service is on offer with a 512kb download speed. People will also have the option to purchase a higher download speed of up to six megabytes.

“To my knowledge it is a first in an Irish city,” Naoise Ó Muirí, Lord Mayor of Dublin, told Cities Today prior to the launch. “We’re hoping that it will make Dublin an even more attractive city for tourists, and we are also hoping that it will generate innovation under its own steam. The fact that the network will be there and free to use, will bring innovation that we may not actually be seeing at the moment.”

Locations include busy Dublin squares and streets with a high footfall of citizens and tourists. Once registered, users will have access to Dublin city hotspots and all other Gowex city networks worldwide.

“Gowex operates in a number of cities, including Barcelona,” Ó Muirí added. “So once you are on the service in Dublin, you can go to Barcelona and connect there. It is transferable.”

The Lord Mayor admitted that although the service is to be provided at no cost to the council, the city will however power the nodes and maintain them, as they will be fixed on city lampposts.

The first phase will cover the Civic Offices, Wood Quay to Patrick’s Park finishing at Barnardo Square and environs. Other locations will roll out over the city throughout the month of February and include areas such as Henry Street, Grafton Street and Smithfield.

A range of Dublin characters, designed especially by illustrator Craig Robinson, known for his ‘Minipops’ pixel people, will identify the free wifi zones. In the form of mosaic signage, some of the characters include a Viking, a street cleaner and a rockabilly girl.

“People are always happy to knock an initiative like this, and say ‘Oh there is no knowledge to it’, or ‘There is no advantage to it’,” Ó Muirí said in reply to a question about the usefulness of free wifi spots considering the large uptake of smart phones and tablets. “Anyone I know that has a phone uses wifi when they can, when they have free wireless they just pick it up, through a laptop or a phone device, so it is still very current.”