Telstra Is Converting Those Useless Old Payphones Into Free Wi-Fi Hotspots

In May this year, Telstra announced their plan to build a  $100 million Wi-Fi hotspot network over five years, involving around two million hotspots across Australia.

And this morning, they rolled out the first leg — a trial of 1000 free Wi-Fi hotspots, set up in the most unlikely of places: those shitty old payphone sites that no one visits anymore.

Pictured: The Internet.

Over the past ten years, Telstra’s orange-topped payphones have become less a means of communication, and more a vehicle for old chewing gum, Anchorman 2 ads and, in Newtown, terrible installation art. But as of November 1, a thousand of the sites — including at Bourke Street Mall, Melbourne; Rundle Mall, Adelaide; Queen Street Mall, Brisbane; and 42 spots in Sydney — will be converted into Wi-Fi hotspots, available for free temporary use within a 30-50 metre radius.

After the rest of the plan roles out early next year — to encompass more Telstra infrastructure, as well as retail partners and local government bodies — customers will be expected to pay for the privilege. But when the first 1000 switch on in November, ‘Free_Telstra_WiFi’ will be a free-for-all.

According to an artist’s interpretation of what the future will look like, we’re all going to be assholes. Except that guy on the bike.

For more information, head here.

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Feature image by Neofito on Flickr, under a Creative Commons license.