Funferal

Free wifi in Dublin, courtesy of eircom

Yes!. Ireland’s doing quite well in terms of WiFi accessibility now – what with free wifi in the airports (and not just in the premium lounges!), and now free wifi in the areas around payphones. This despite Wifi not seeming to be used as much in Europe as it generally is in the United States.
I remember someone suggesting wifi from payphones when I was still with eircom, but the fact that it’s actually here – and actually free – is wonderful. Of course, I’m not in Dublin enough to make much use of this (and there aren’t necessarily lots of spaces to sit safely with a laptop in Dublin city centre). But still – an innovative use of real estate.
Of course, to step back for a moment, we might wonder what the long term benefits to eircom might be. First, there are obvious intangibles – such as branding, and eircom positioning itself as the multi-channel, ubiquitous network you would expect (this is the former national monopoly after all). However, moving into the future, I wonder whether there are plans/hopes to ‘monetize’ this investment…..