Since mid-January, Giessen residents have been able to surf the Internet at high speed in the city centre and, since April, also in and around the Ringallee outdoor pool. The public "SWG WiFi" has been very well received by users.
Reading the news, checking emails and carrying out banking transactions on the move are part of everyday life for many people today. They always have their direct connection to the Internet with them. In most places, they need a mobile phone contract to connect their smartphone to the network - and the speed often leaves a lot to be desired. Since January 2016, these times have been a thing of the past in Giessen's city centre: Stadtwerke Gießen (SWG) has set up a publicly accessible Wi-Fi network there. In the pedestrian zone around Seltersweg and in and around the Ringallee outdoor pool, the free "SWG WiFi" provides a fast internet connection almost everywhere. Anyone who registers can use the access for 30 minutes a day. The company has installed a total of 34 so-called access points - antennas for data transmission.
Popular and much used
The first few months have shown: The public Wi-Fi has been very well received by Giessen residents, both in the city centre and at the Ringallee outdoor pool. Up to 500 people a day use the free service - most of them for three to ten minutes. Only a few utilise the full 30-minute quota.
"We get a lot of positive feedback about SWG WiFi. It has been very well received by both Giessen residents and businesses in the city centre. The pilot phase went extremely well," explains Thomas Rössler, Head of Information Technologies at SWG.
The public WLAN will soon go into regular operation and SWG customers will then be able to surf the Internet for an unlimited time with a bandwidth of two megabits per second. For everyone else, there is still a daily limit of 30 minutes.
Register and start surfing
Anyone wishing to try out SWG WiFi can simply register with their e-mail address. The system automatically generates and sends the login ID and password. SWG explains exactly how it works on its website at www.stadtwerke-giessen.de/swg-wifi.