[okfn-za] Wide-scale, free, secure wifi all over Cape Town

Mon Jun 29 13:14:49 UTC 2015

Interesting thought experiment, thanks Louisa.

I guess that (gut feel, no data) the biggest impact that free wifi could have would be for those without access to a reasonable alternative. In other words: not tourists or anyone who can afford ADSL or a couple of hundred megabytes of 3G data a month. This is not to say that it wouldn’t have an impact for those groups, simply that the potential for impact is bigger elsewhere.

With that in mind:

- wifi at taxi ranks and bus stops (in addition to Adi’s “along taxi routes”)
- wifi wherever young (particularly underprivileged) people congregate — skate parks, schools, community centres, sports clubs
- wifi wherever micro and small businesses exist
- wifi at creches and day-care centres
- wifi at market distribution centres (eg. where hawkers buy their day’s goods)

I wonder if there is potential to use wifi as a draw-card to get people, particularly teenagers, off the streets and into community/sports/education centres?

Greg

--
Greg Kempe
p +27 (0)78 246 1116
w  kempe.net
t  @longhotsummer

On 27 June 2015 at 7:39:52 AM, Louisa Potter (potter.louisa at gmail.com) wrote:

Here's a thought experiment on wifi utopia in Cape Town:

---> What would it take to make Cape Town absolutely leagues ahead in terms of publicly available, fast, intelligently secure internet access?
Putting the user first, for both access and privacy. A generous system, not a compromise of adverts and tracking in exchange for connectivity. 
Think big.
What do you think it would take to have the **ideal** public wifi here?
[If you'd like to reply more realistically (instead of "ideally"), that's great, too.]

And here's some early feedback 

[thank you, Adi]
"the first thing that comes to mind is
putting wifi access points on the taxi routes so that taxis have
uninterrupted free wifi on board. People have been talking for quite
some time about putting wifi IN taxis, but logistically this is
impossible. Putting hotspots en route is much more feasible. That
isn't a super creative idea though."

"Hotspots along the route would be interesting. I had in mind putting them all over the city, and at tourist spots, the airport. So, for example, when a visitor first arrives, they have automatic, easy communication. Along transport arteries would be fantastic, too."

--
Louisa Potter
@_ouisa
083-463-1139
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