Only private enterprises set up new wireless networks in Helsinki

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The unwillingness of the City of Helsinki to set up wireless Internet networks has led private entrepreneurs to step in to fill the gap.
      For instance, the Internet company Maxinetti is setting up WLAN networks in different places for marketing purposes.
      Maxinetti wireless broadband is now available at the Hietaniemi beach, and the Forum shopping mall. The service is primarily a marketing tool for Maxinetti.
      Next week Maxinetti will open a wireless connection in the Painobaari in Sanoma House, and discussions are being held with the Unicafe chain run by the HYY Group, which is owned by the Student Union of Helsinki University. The idea is for student cafes to offer wireless Internet access.
     
The City of Oulu is taking a more active role in wireless networking.
      Ilari Heikkinen, head of data management in the city sees the development of municipal WLAN infrastructure as good for local democracy. "If Internet services are developed only by commercial interests, money will take on a decisive role.
     
Former Nokia director Kalle Isokallio opened a public wireless Internet network on Helsinki’s Esplanade in March.
      With the Finnish EU Presidency coming, Isokallio had become disenchanted with the unwillingness of the City of Helsinki to promote municipal WLAN networks. The OpenEspa network proved that city networks can be set up with fairly little effort.
      OpenEspa got considerable publicity, and others have responded to the challenge. A couple of weeks ago Maxinetti said that it planned to set up 100 wireless broadband base stations in Helsinki, Espoo, and Vantaa.
     
The OpenEspa project has had a slow start, with only about 25 users logging on each day.
      In February, Helsingin Sanomat printed a map indicating that OpenEspa would easily cover all of the cafes alongside the Esplanade. In practice, the signal is fairly weak already on the outdoor terraces of the establishments, and inside, it almost disappears completely.
      The signal is better for those sitting on benches in the park, but the web surfer has to make do with battery power, and deal with direct sunlight on the laptop screen, and the possibility of getting beer or cider spilled on the keyboard.
     
Isokallio nevertheless believes in his project. He says that soon there will be mobile phones on the market offering free, or at least cheap Internet-based phone calls over wireless connections. It will be easy to use such phones out-of-doors.
      When logging on to the Internet with these phones, the screen might display the opening page of the provider of the connection - either OpenEspa itself, or another participating establishment.
      "It will be finally possible to pinpoint marketing at a range of 50 metres - for instance, that a pint of beer at our bar now costs EUR 2.50".
      Isokallio believes that people will accept advertising in return for free phone calls.
     
There are also plans to build so-called bridges in at least one cafe, which would help deliver the signal to tables in the rear.
      Isokallio believes that the number of users of OpenEspa will increase by the end of the summer, even though the system has not been actually advertised.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Free wireless Internet access planned for parts of centre of Helsinki 24.2.2006)

Helsingin Sanomat