City Wifi – One Year Of Free Wireless Connection In Barcelona

Information on November 17, 2009 10:05 am

A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article regarding where to find Wifi points around Barcelona. The article analysed what were, up until this moment, all of the possible options in order to have wireless connection to the internet in the city. However, this has all changed!

Barcelona’s council has lauched an initiative to give free access to the internet throughout the city for 1 year. The project will begin as of autumn 2009 and will benefit all residents of the city, although

due to the characteristics of the service I believe that travellers visiting the city will be the ones who will most benefit from it.

Every person will be able to gain access to the network via Wifi points, for one hour each day, which will be perfect for travellers who wish to make an online booking; search for the address of their accommodation; check their emails or look for information such as restaurants, bars, clubs, museums, tours etc.

However, the service isn’t perfect- it has certain restictions which could affect travellers. You can only use the service within the centres for the project’s specified opening hours. Therefore, if you wish to obtain information regarding your return flight at 6 in the morning or make a booking for that oh-so fashionable nightclub at 11 o’ clock at night, forget about it.

Another significant restriction is that it isn’t possible to use either P2P or VoIP (Voice over Internet protocol) technology. I know that this may seem rather technical, but in simple terms it means that you won’t be able to use Internet call services such as Skype, nor instant messanging services like MSN Messenger, and moreover you won’t be able to download free music from programs such as Ares or LimeWire.

The Wifi network currently has 177 active service points, however this will be expanded until it reaches 500 points by the end of 2010. They can be found in civic, social and cultural centres, libraries, museums, sport centres, markets and a few parks and gardens. For a map of where all the WIFI points are Click Here

Therefore, don’t forget your computers and mobile phones which will allow you to connect to a Wifi network when visiting Barcelona, since the new network will make a lot of things easier during your visit to this great city.

Luis

Related posts