Thane goes WiFi, civic body installs 415 transmitters

19th July, 2018

THANE: The civic body has installed 415 transmitters across the city, providing free wireless internet services to Thaneites.

Municipal commissioner Sanjeev Jaiswal launched the free public WiFi service as part of the smart city initiative.This will ensure better connectivity as it will be enabled with an 800kbps network to facilitate downloads in public places without going to a coffee shop or mall.

“The free WiFi facility has been made operational from Wednesday, after a nine months trial period. Users will have to key in their details, including the IMEI number of their phone, along with their name and phone numbers while accessing the public WiFi. We will maintain a track of the users to ensure the services aren’t misused,” said a senior official from the TMC.

He added that the number of wireless transmitters will be increased going by the public demand. The network for each of the device is around 550m and the service will be active only till the borders of the city.

As per plans, users will get to use the free WiFi facility for 10 years, following a one-time registration charge of Rs 100. An upgrade of high speed for the internet facility will be possible after payment of adequate charges.

Officials said anyone with a smartphone can avail of the facility after completing the mandatory registration process that can be downloaded after logging into the system. The officials said that they are expecting good response from the upgraded facility and hope that the three lakh users from the earlier system will be able to migrate.

The contractor will be sharing the revenue with the administration and will either pay Rs 61 lakh annually or around 14% of the subscription cost that will be paid by the users for upgradation of the services.

In addition, the contractor will also provide 20mbps internet speed at the corporation premises as well.

The free WiFi facility has been made operational from Wednesday, after a nine months trial period. Users will have to key in their details, including the IMEI number of their phone, along with their name and phone numbers while accessing the public wi-fi. We will maintain a track of the users to ensure the services aren’t misused

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com