Long the social and meeting hub of Melbourne's CBD, Flinders Street Station may just become the social media hub too.
Metro spokeswoman Geraldine Mitchell announced today that Flinders Street Station would be the "perfect place to launch a free wi-fi service" next month. For the first time in Australia, the train station – which is accessed by more than 100,000 commuters a day – will have full free Wi-Fi access for people on laptops, smartphones, and tablets such as the iPad.
The service is being paid for through advertising, which all commuters will have to wade through in order to access the internet. When logging onto the free WiFi service, people will be asked for their gender and age and have to scroll through advertising generated for them before accessing the internet.
After a trial period, the Wi-Fi network may be extended to the other city stations in Melbourne.
The Herald Sun cited research by Compare Broadband showing the attraction of Wi-Fi on public transport for busy commuters.
Free Wi-Fi has already been used on more public transport around Melbourne and proved a great incentive for catching the tram to work. The free Wi-Fi tram supplied by ANZ for three months in 2010 was hugely popular, with more than 20,000 people accessing the network within the first week.
Similarly, Optus offered free Wi-Fi to all tennis fans at the Australian Open earlier this year.
If you're not yet up to speed with the latest smartphone and find yourself unable to take advantage of Flinders Street Station's new network, don't despair! Try out some of our best Wi-Fi Broadband plans at home – or give us a call on 1300 106 571 to sort out what would be best for you.