Punters across the UK will soon be able to get online for free at their local, thanks to O2 bringing its free public Wi-Fi hotspots to over 1600 networks across the country.
The UK mobile and broadband provider today announced a new partnership with Mitchells and Butlers to put Wi-Fi hotspots in its many pubs. Mitchells and Butlers may not be a recognisable name in terms of pubs, but if we tell you that it owns the Toby Carvery, Harvester and All Bar One chains, you get the idea of just how many pubs will be providing free Wi-Fi in the near future.
O2 is aiming for a connected summer this year, and has already begun installing its networks in 199 Harvester pubs up and down the UK. We’re hoping the routers used can stretch the signal out to the beer garden!
Mitchells and Butlers also take care of other big name pub chains such as the Irish chain O’Neills, Vintage Inns and Sizzling Pubs, all of which O2 says will be getting the wireless broadband treatment before the end of the year.
Wi-Fi usage in these pubs will be free to everyone, so you don’t have to be an O2 mobile or home broadband customer to use it. Simply connect to the network on your laptop, tablet, pda or smartphone and you’ll be redirected to a webpage where you can sign up and log in, ready to start surfing the web.
In the past few years we’ve seen a surge in free public Wi-Fi across the nation, ranging from individual businesses setting up their own open networks for customers, to the hundreds of Cloud networks in restaurants such as McDonalds. Along with coffee shops, pubs are probably the most favoured location for those on the go to get a drink, have a sit down and catch up online. It makes sense for free Wi-Fi to be offered, and we hope that other pub chains follow suit.
Now all we need to do is sit back and wait for the influx of pictures of people’s drinks and pub grub appearing on Facebook and Twitter.
Let us know your thoughts on our comments below or via our @Gadget_Helpline Twitter page or Official Facebook group.
Source: blog.o2.co.uk