People in Taipei are now able to enjoy a free wireless service at public locations throughout the city, including MRT stations, city libraries, administrative centers and branches of Taipei City Hospital, as the Taipei City Government seeks to expand its wireless network service to 100 percent of the city.
Beginning yesterday, the free wireless service, called “TPE-Free,” was available for anyone within the city, including foreign visitors.
Taiwanese can register for a free account using their mobile phone number, while foreign visitors can use their passport number to apply for the service at Taipei International Airport (Songshan) and visitor information centers throughout the city.
Photo: CNA
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said yesterday at a ceremony to introduce the service that the city would extend the service to outdoor spaces and residential and commercial areas in October.
More than 390,000 people have applied for the service, Taipei City Department of Information Commissioner Chang Chia-sheng (張家生) said.
However, some users said the 512Kbps connection speed was too slow and that they expected the city government to increase the coverage as soon as possible.
“I think the connection is too slow and it takes a long time to open Web pages with images … but I am still happy with the free service,” 18-year-old student Lin Yu-ting (林裕庭) said after he used the service at MRT Zhongxiao Fuxing Station.
The service is still not available at several MRT stations, including Zhongxiao Xinsheng, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Yongchun, Houshanpi, Kunyang, Nankang, Songshan Airport and Dazhi, because of the structure and layout of the stations, but the department will fix the problem by the end of this year, Chang said.
Chang said the aim of the free wireless service was to offer basic online functions such as sending or receiving e-mails and that people who need to download multimedia files should use paid services with private companies.
The city government currently offers a paid wireless service, called WiFly.
Chan said the paid service would continue to operate alongside the free service and that WiFly offers higher speed at various locations including Starbucks and 7-11, dismissing rumors that the city government would abandon the WiFly program.
The WiFly service, which covers 93 percent of the city, costs consumers NT$100 a day, NT$399 a month or NT$4,200 a year. The program was initiated by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) during his term as Taipei mayor.
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