Free wi-fi network accessed 1.1m times (From York Press)

It may have been accessed 1.1 million times, but once you are signed on you cannot do anything with it as its overly clogged up with users and is slower than using the basic 2G Edge server & 3G is significantly faster.

Don't get me wrong, I like the idea that York is trying to catch up with other major cities in terms of services like this, but in needs a major upgrade to make it actually work.

I don't mind having a free wifi service and is good for tourists and locals but I wonder how they came up with that figure? 1.1 million what?

Some smartphones connect to open Wifi networks and try to establish connections to the internet. If the network has a user agreement acceptance form (I hope it does) then only people who agreed to it could access the internet.
Are we to believe that 1.1 million individual people actively accepted the terms in two months? Or perhaps 250K people accepted the agreement over four times over two months? I doubt it.

I reckon the actual figure is 1.1 million attempts by devices (local shoppers, shop staff, tourist) to access the internet or just looking for wifi over two months. A small fraction would have been actually initiated by the device owner.

This is just the council justifying the project with exaggerated or misleading figures and the media simply publishing without checking the facts (churnalism)

1.1 million?
Well, walk down Coney Street with your phone etc in your pocket/bag, and the wifi switched on, and it'll try to autoconnect.

500,000 per month, so about 120,000 a week, so about 20,000 people a day.

Wonder what the bandwidth on that is?

I latched onto it when I tried to, but couldn't get any data. I was wondering if it was a Symbian phone issue, requiring a more complex phone to authenticate on the system.

I also thought that if you have "search for WiFi" access activated on your phone or PC then it will automatically seek to make a connection when you walk down Coney Street.
That is very different from actually using the service for something useful.
Perhaps some of the local businesses are happilly using the free bandwidth?
How much is this costing taxpayers?

You are all very lucky to get wi-fi free in York,over here we hardly get any signal never mind wi-fi for free!

sunnysteve wrote:
You are all very lucky to get wi-fi free in York,over here we hardly get any signal never mind wi-fi for free!

Perhaps, but its as useful as a chocolate fire guard if no one can use it as too many people are signed on. In which case we might as well not have it at all.

fuzzfelt wrote:
I don't mind having a free wifi service and is good for tourists and locals but I wonder how they came up with that figure? 1.1 million what?

Some smartphones connect to open Wifi networks and try to establish connections to the internet. If the network has a user agreement acceptance form (I hope it does) then only people who agreed to it could access the internet.
Are we to believe that 1.1 million individual people actively accepted the terms in two months? Or perhaps 250K people accepted the agreement over four times over two months? I doubt it.

I reckon the actual figure is 1.1 million attempts by devices (local shoppers, shop staff, tourist) to access the internet or just looking for wifi over two months. A small fraction would have been actually initiated by the device owner.

This is just the council justifying the project with exaggerated or misleading figures and the media simply publishing without checking the facts (churnalism)

You're probably right.

I've just checked the Council's website and found the original Press Release where this story was no doubt churned from.
They say 1 million "hits" and then confirm that there's an acceptance form before you can use it.
As oldgoat calculated, that would be 20,000 people a day standing around surfing the net. It's amazing the place doesn't grind to a halt.

fuzzfelt wrote:
I don't mind having a free wifi service and is good for tourists and locals but I wonder how they came up with that figure? 1.1 million what?

Some smartphones connect to open Wifi networks and try to establish connections to the internet. If the network has a user agreement acceptance form (I hope it does) then only people who agreed to it could access the internet.
Are we to believe that 1.1 million individual people actively accepted the terms in two months? Or perhaps 250K people accepted the agreement over four times over two months? I doubt it.

I reckon the actual figure is 1.1 million attempts by devices (local shoppers, shop staff, tourist) to access the internet or just looking for wifi over two months. A small fraction would have been actually initiated by the device owner.

This is just the council justifying the project with exaggerated or misleading figures and the media simply publishing without checking the facts (churnalism)

you've still got to go to the website to turn it on. it doesn't automatically log on even if you have wifi on