NEWS The British Library finally launched its wireless network on Tuesday, which it claims is the largest enclosed Wi-Fi hotspot in the UK capital.
The network covers 11 reading rooms, the Library auditorium, a cafe and restaurant, and also an outdoor Piazza. It will be available to around 3,000 visitors per day.
Broadcom has built a huge Wi-Fi zone outdoors in Central London, but the British Library believes its network is the largest indoor site, rivalling locations such as Heathrow Airport in terms of coverage.
The British Library network, built by wireless operator The Cloud, was originally meant to be opened in September by then e-commerce minister Stephen Timms. This was postponed after a government reshuffle saw Timms moved to the Treasury, to be replaced by Mike O'Brien.
According to a British Library spokesperson, it wasn't possible to find a gap in O'Brien's diary to allow him to launch the network.
The project has been on trial since the end of May, and achieved peak usage levels of 1,200 sessions per week.
One reason for its popularity could be that the reading rooms do not offer fixed-line internet access.
British Library spokesman Ben Sanderson said: "Some people used to go across the road to an internet cafe to get web access."
As the Library is located close to Euston and Kings Cross railway stations, it may be convenient for commuters to pop in to use its wireless network - especially as GNER, which operates from Kings Cross, now offers Wi-Fi to some passengers on its trains.
The crunch test will be whether visitors are prepared to pay £4.50 per hour for Wi-Fi access.
Sanderson explained that the Library had decided that it was important to recover some revenue after investing in the network rollout, especially as it expected that some people will now come to the Library primarily for web access.
"It won't just be readers that use this network. There will also be people visiting to use the network," Sanderson said.
Graeme Wearden writes for ZDNet UK.
Comments
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1. Johnny Marr
I'm perfectly happy to pay £0.00/hour.
Anything over £0.00 per hour for Wi-Fi hotspots is too much. Free wireless should be used as a tool to bring people into your premesis, and make them use your product/service. I mean, toilets cost a bit of money to install, and not many places charge you for using their bogs.
Are any companies really making money from selling hotspot access? I doubt it.
2. sime
...maybe BT are... based on charging £6 an hour for wireless...! thats not charging for convenience, thats charging LIKE a wounded bull...
anyone who lives in earls court can use my wireless!... ;) (almost...well..except for the 128bit wep and the mac security)
3. royston
agreed........use my wifi anytime you want provideing you dont try to wreck my system or crack it....otherwise its free to anyone. plus the fact the system its initialy conected to is old and of no consequence.wreck it if you want.i will just reboot it all.hack it and use it as a bot to infect others and i will jump on you. its rebooted every 2 weeks and is expendable.dont get me wrong it is secure enough its just that i believe wifi should be free for all to use. £6.00 an hour from bt is worse than what microsoft makes on their products and that is scandelous.why doesnt someone make a free network for certain types of data for instance or just pay a low yearly fee for the use of it, after all its cheap enough to set up compared to isps charges. where the hell do they get this £6.00 an hour from? the profit margin must be huge.£6.00 a week would be better like the broadband home users get already, and they are faster as well uncapped and unlimited.think i will stick a sign at the bottom of my garden saying "plug in here to use broadband conection free of charge when i am not useing it.if the light is green go ahead if its red you cant... contributions welcome"