Free Broadband

There is an old saying that nothing worthwhile comes for free. We have come to expect that anything that is either cheap, or comes at no cost at all, is not worth while pursuing. This has been drummed into us for many years but it was not always so. Water can be free, air is free, life itself comes at no charge. But where a price can be placed on anything you can almost guarantee somebody will find a way to make you pay for it. It might surprise you but the Internet is basically free. Many people have worked out ways to make money from the Internet but the Internet itself is like air. It is free. What you have to pay for is the ability to access the Internet.

We have been lucky in that the Internet, to date, has not been taken over by multi-national companies. It has mainly been developed, thus far, by unselfish people interested mainly in getting results but not simply doing it for money. You can get an idea of just how free the Internet really is if you are old enough to remember how you could pick up radio waves on a home made crystal set. People all over the world could make their own simple radio receivers simply by making an aerial and using a few wires and a crystal. Even today you don’t need a provider to allow you to receive radio signals on your radio. Nor do you need a provider to allow you to receive TV signals despite a lot of work put into building suitable transmitters. However, to get access to the Internet you have to seek out an Internet service provider (ISP). For a price an ISP will connect you to broadband Internet either by cable, telephone wires or through wireless. It is wireless Internet access where it is possible to obtain a broadband connection for no cost to yourself whatsoever.

Free Wireless Broadband

If you have recently visited an airport, Internet cafe, council library or Internet hot spot, you may not have known it but you would have been in the middle of a wireless broadband network that you could access for free, if you had the right key, or password, to get in with. Many Internet users do take advantage of such access even if they have to pay a small fee for the key to let them in. Some cities in the world, unfortunately not any within Australia, are experimenting with setting up either low cost or totally free Internet access for all their residents. It is hoped that in the near future wireless networking may become so readily available that you will be able to access it at anytime, anywhere, without the use of any wires.

Wi-Fi

A wireless broadband network works in the same way as do mobile phones, television or radios by using radio waves. You can liken a wireless broadband network to a two way radio set up in many instances. An adaptor in a computer translates the data it receives into a radio signal and sends it out using an antenna. Your wireless router picks this signal up and decodes it.

For the technically minded the radios used for WiFi connection are much the same as those used for walkie talkies, mobile phones and other like devices. They all transmit and receive radio waves but WiFi radios are slightly different to these other radios. WiFi radios can transmit at a frequency of 2.4 GHz or 5GHz. This is much higher than the frequencies used in the other devices. It is the higher frequencies that allow the signal to carry sufficient data to access the Internet. These radios use 802.11 network standards meaning 802.11a can transmit at 5GHz which can give you up to 54 megabits of data downloading a second. WiFi radios can transmit on three frequency bands. They are also able to hop quickly between the bands. This ‘hopping’ helps to reduce interference and allows multiple devices access the same signal at the same time.

The run-down

Wi-Fi is a technology that provides high-speed unwired internet access a wireless network. Despite a short range (about 20m), Wi-Fi networks provide a high-speed connection and can be accessed by multiple devices in multiple locations. While the majority are private networks based at home, many Wi-Fi networks are public, based around shopping centres, libraries, airports and restaurants.

What we are interested in here are public Wi-Fi networks. Specifically, public unlocked Wi-Fi networks which will allow us to piggy-back their internet access, letting us download our precious files.

As long as your laptop, notebook or other device is fitted with wireless adaptor they will all be able to use the one router at the same time to connect to the Internet. It is a most convenient way to access broadband Internet. It is invisible and mostly reliable. If too many people are accessing the one router at the same time it can cause the signal to slow considerably and sometimes lose the connection completely.

All public Wi-Fi networks are considered ‘free’. Fast-food chains like McDonalds offer free Wi-Fi to all patrons, provided that they adhere to the relevant terms and conditions (i.e. restrictions on accessing offensive material). HOWEVER, there is a catch: McDonalds only allows a data allowance of 50MB, AND no peer-to-peer sharing is allowed. So, while you do technically have free internet, there isn’t very much of it and there isn’t very much you can do with it… Additionally, McDonalds also offers a pay-as-you-go Wi-Fi service to complement the free one.

Fortunately, there are many other locations that are kind enough to allow high-speed free Wi-Fi too! Sydney Airport is a prime example, allowing free unlimited internet access provided that you follow the terms and conditions (once again, restrictions on accessing offensive material, etc). Other prime Wi-Fi spots include your local public library or university campus, lots of independent coffee shops and most hotels!

And connecting is as easy as pie! All you have to do to connect to said free Wi-Fi is open the network, open your browser, accept the terms and conditions and done. Simple!

Unfortunately, like McDonalds many locations offering free Wi-Fi are slowly becoming aware that some people may abuse their privilege of free internet access. The result is that often, such sites will place time limits or data allocations limits on their services, restricting your use.

But hopefully, such a time or data limit won’t detract from what is essentially a fantastic, cost-free way to stay connected!

National Broadband Network

Enter the revolutionary new National Broadband Network (NBN), aimed at providing Australians with a national, wholesale-only, open access broadband network to all Australians, regardless of where you live. With a tentative completion date in 2021, the NBN aims to provide 93% of the Australian population with free wireless internet, replacing the old copper network owned by Telstra currently used for most telephony and data services.

With the first trial rollouts having already occurred in 2011, the future looks incredibly bright for free wireless connectivity around Australia.

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