Rugby watchers in Tararua are in for a rare treat thanks to a "brilliant deal" negotiated between Inspire Net and the district council.
The Palmerston North-based service provider will supply limited free wireless services to Dannevirke, Woodville, Pahiatua and Eketahuna on a 12-month trial, hopefully starting just before the Rugby World
Cup kicks off in early September.
Tararua District Council chief executive Blair King said the deal meant Tararua remained "at the front of the pack" for innovation, joined only by much larger players such as Palmerston North, Wellington and Christchurch.
The arrival of free wireless to hotspots in Tararua was a condition of a contract the council had with the Inspire Net inter-town fibre project.
Mr King said coverage would grow as a result and more people, including visitors would be able to "enjoy our town centres".
The $6000 cost of providing the free service was to be picked up by the council's economic development budget.
"We will be able to offset some of this cost by selling advertising space to businesses.
"Every time someone connects to the service they will see the advertiser's name and details."
Mr King outlined the way the service worked, saying many electronic devices sensed hotspots within a range of less than 100m from the node or transmitter.
"All our service centres, or libraries, have nodes and Inspire Net is now planning to extend the number of nodes at no extra cost," he said.
Until now, connection had been restricted to buying a cafe net card that granted access.
"By September, we expect people will be able to download, or send up to 100 megabytes of data a month free of charge."
Those who wanted more could pay to get more bandwidth and Inspire Net expected that would be a popular option with the proliferation of hand-held palm devices such as the iPad.
Inspire Net was hopeful the trial would generate enough traction to be able to carry on the service without subsidy after the trial period, should the council want to continue.
Mr King said the new service was separate to wireless services already being offered throughout Tararua by Inspire Net for fast broadband to homes and businesses.
