Dublin city to have new free public Wi-Fi system

Kenneth Fox

Dublin city is set to have new free public WiFi system after successful trials took place.

Fronted by the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), they conducted trials at Bernardo Square, Dame Street and the City Council’s Amphitheatre.

The 'Open Roaming' system enables residents and visitors to log in only once and then maintain seamless connectivity as their smartphones, tablets and other Wi-Fi devices automatically switch between different public Wi-Fi hotspots.

They said the success of the trial will pave the way for a larger city-wide deployment.

Dublin is home to 30 per cent of the country’s working population and attracts over 6.6 million overseas visitors a year.  It is anticipated that 'Open Roaming' will be initially rolled out on over 150 locations across Dublin city.

The trial, initiated by Dublin City Council’s Smart Dublin programme and supported by the WBA and Virgin Media, also involved participation from CommScope and represents a key a milestone toward achieving Dublin’s smart city goals.

These goals include providing communities, residents and businesses with seamless access to services online, as well as high-quality connectivity

As well as giving tourists and other visitors free, secure, high-performance Wi-Fi access.

Once they arrive and log on to an Open Roaming-enabled hotspot, their device is automatically authenticated for use every time it switches to another Open Roaming-enabled hotspot.

Speaking about the initiative, Tiago Rodrigues, chief executive of the Wireless Broadband Alliance, said: “Wi-Fi is the foundation for smart cities.

"This successful proof-of-concept trial shows that the City of Dublin and its residents, businesses and visitors all can depend on the Open Roaming standard to ensure that they always have convenient access to seamless, secure, carrier-grade Wi-Fi connectivity.”

Launched in May 2020, Open Roaming is now in release three, which will make the business and commercial aspects of roaming easier than ever before and importantly, cut back on hundreds of hours of legal and administrative time when establishing roaming settlement agreements.