500 Wi-Fi hotspots now LIVE in Mumbai, becomes largest public Wi-Fi service in country
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Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday launched the largest public Wi-Fi service in Mumbai, with 500 hotspots scattered across the city.
Fadnavis, in August 2016, had announced 1,200 Wi-Fi hotspots across the city, of which 500 were to be made live under Phase I by November. However, the launch was delayed due to some technical issues.
“Happy to dedicate Phase 1 of Mumbai Wi-Fi. From this instance, 500 WiFi Hotspots go live across various locations in Mumbai,” Fadnavis tweeted, adding that Mumbai Wi-Fi is India’s largest Public WiFi service along with being one of the largest globally.
“During the trial period from January 2 to 8, about 23000 users across the city signed up & and downloaded more than 2 TB of data,” he added.
The complete list of all Wi-Fi hotspots in the city can be found here.
People who want to share feedback or highlight issues can do so by reaching out to Twitter handle @AS_Mum_WiFi, CM said.
Under the current phase, hotspots were installed at 500 locations. These include tourist destinations like Gateway of India, Chowpatty, Churchgate, CST, Hanging Gardens and Horniman Circle, along with slum clusters and public places.
According to ET, each Wi-Fi hotspot will have three to four access points and a 60-70 metre range, depending on the location. Each access point, with a speed of 20mbps, can support up to 40 users.
The usage, similar to Railtel’s implementation on railway stations, will be free for the first 30 minutes or 100mb. After exhausting the limit, users will still have the option of paying an estimated Rs 26-28 per 100mb and continue surfing.
The usage limit will be as high as 1gb for locations closer to educational institutions. In Phase II, expected to launch by May 1, the hotspots will be installed at the remaining 700 locations.
In future, the Wi-Fi network will also be used for smart parking and smart transportation, by providing realtime updates on the routes and available capacity of the various modes of public transport in the city.
