Free Wi-Fi in Melbourne? Oh, yes. It’s about time.
Today, the Victoria Government has just rolled out VicFreeWiFi that will give free public Wi-Fi access to Melbournians across the whole CBD.
Sure, we have Telstra Air that offers free Wi-Fi around the state (and worldwide), but it’s only limited to Telstra customers.
At the moment, the free public Wi-Fi access are already up at all Melbourne CBD train stations, Bourke St Mall, Queen Victoria Market, and South Wharf Promenade at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. More locations will be available by the end of 2016 (check out the Melbourne Free Wi-Fi coverage map).
To access VicFreeWiFi network, simply go to your available Wi-Fi network settings on your phone and find “VicFreeWiFi” on the list of available networks.
No registration is required (apart from accepting terms and conditions), but you can only use 250MB per day, per device. Not bad if you are a visitor who only needs a bit of data to communicate with your loved ones overseas. Don’t bother trying to watch a YouTube video though as it will chew up your allowance in no time. VicFreeWiFi is being managed and maintained by TPG.
Also note that you may want to install and set-up a VPN service on your phone before connecting to VicFreeWiFi, because you don’t want to login to your online banking or other services while you are on a free Wi-Fi. It’s just.. unsecure as someone can easily snoop in. I’m using PrivateInternetAccess at the moment for a few years and happy with it.
Check out VicFreeWiFi official page for more details.
It’ll still be months before we got a complete coverage but free Wi-Fi in Melbourne is at least now a reality.
