The city of Dublin, Ireland will soon have a free, high-performance public Wi-Fi service in more than 30 locations. The program will be delivered through a partnership between Virgin Media Business and Dublin City Council. The initiative is part of the WiFi4EU program – part of a €120m Europe-wide plan – designed to provide communities with better Wi-Fi connectivity in public spaces. It is funded through the EU and the Department of Rural and Community Development.
The city initially performed a proof-of-concept trial in select locations. The trial established that users could log on to Wireless Broadband Alliance’s OpenRoaming just once, and then go on to maintain seamless connectivity as their devices automatically switched between different public wifi hotspots.
According to the City, the free Wi-Fi is a key a milestone in achieving Dublin’s smart city goals, which include:
- providing seamless access to services online, as well as high-quality connectivity;
- giving visitors free, secure, high-performance wifi access to assist in finding the information they need, such as restaurant recommendations, transit schedules, directions, etc; and
- ensuring that users have the broadband connectivity they need for interactive immersive learning, research, hybrid study, and more.
“Dublin is at the forefront of a digital transformation that is serving as a model for other municipalities across Ireland and the world,” said Jamie Cudden, smart city lead for the City of Dublin. “Collaborations like this are key to the delivery of convenient, reliable and ubiquitous connectivity which is critical for achieving our smart city goals such as closing the digital divide and ensuring that the government is responsive to the needs of citizens and businesses. This successful trial of WBA OpenRoaming is a milestone toward achieving all those goals.”