SYDNEY: Telstra’s $100 million WiFi network will allow its broadband customers to use their internet connections while roaming away from home.
Telstra has been rolling out its so-called Air network over the past 12 months, retro-fitting old payphones with WiFi routers to create a network of wireless internet hot spots across more than 250 towns and cities across Australia.
The project, unveiled by Telstra in May 2014, will have the telco giant try to enlist two million Australian broadband customers to share their home internet connections and boost wireless connectivity in suburbs, cafes, shopping centres and stadiums.
The network will also reach overseas, allowing the telco’s customers to connect at more than 15 million international hot spots in countries including Germany, Poland, Britain, France and Japan, through an exclusive deal with global WiFi provider Fon.
In the first stage of the trial, Telstra has been using the fibre and copper cables used to connect many of its forgotten payphone booths and use them to hook up the new WiFi hot spots.
The rollout is still ongoing but once it is complete the Telstra Air network will be supported by 8000 new WiFi hot spots in high-traffic areas including major shopping strips, holiday destinations and transport hubs, as well as sharing internet connections with councils and businesses.
Telstra home broadband customers, including those on the National Broadband Network, can become a Telstra Air member at no additional charge provided they have a compatible gateway.
Telstra customers who opt in to the program will be given free access to the public WiFi network from which they will be able to download content according to the limits of their existing broadband plans and download quotas.
New Telstra customers will receive the modems compatible across ADSL, cable, NBN and 4G services as part of standard installation costs, but existing customers will either have to buy a new one for $210 or install a software upgrade on their old device.
Telstra has said the public WiFi network would not affect a customer’s home download speeds and that users on the public network should expect speeds of about two megabits per second enough to stream a high-definition movie.
