Wifi at Marienplatz

As of yesterday, there is free wifi for all to use at Munich's Marienplatz. It is part of an initiative by the City called M-WLAN and is a collaboration of the government with their daughter company M-Net, an internet provider.

Dieter Reiter of the SPD says that this service is necessary to our city, which breaks record after record for tourism and overnight stays.

Almost every tourist has some form of device, big or small, that can connect to the internet. Cell phones, smart phones, laptops, tablets, and more all use Wifi. The system at Marienplatz connects any of these devices to a free and easy network with which tourists and citizens alike can use.

With all the tourists, the city reasons that it would be beneficial to provide internet as it is quickly becoming a necessity for mankind. Hopefully tourists will then not have to rely on using the expensive surfing plans on their phones and can use the city Wifi without problems.

The Wifi is supposed to be quick as well, at 6 to 7 Megabytes per second. Uploading a hundred photos could take less than 10 minutes, faster than some internet connections at home. The system is also designed to support thousands of users at once.

The city hopes to avoid Marienplatz residents cancelling their own internet services in order to use the city one. Users will have to reconnect their internet every hour, which could be an annoyance to residents, hindering them from cancelling their own connections. Access to pornographic or illegal content is blocked.

The city is using the Marienplatz Wifi as a test, and if it goes well then it could be expanded to other areas of Munich. The decision will be felled on May 15th, if the Wifi will stay, and if the campaign will be expanded.