Wi-fi success in the City not all about Cloud density

The City of London's wi-fi network, which launched today, is one of the densest citywide wireless networks in the world.

According to wireless broadband provider The Cloud, which has built and will now maintain the network, it is the most comprehensive in Europe.

The mesh network covers London's Square Mile using 127 broadband nodes built into street furniture - such as lampposts and street signs - across the city. A mesh network can make connections from one node to another rather than relying on each connecting back to a core network separately.

The network density compares favourably to other cities around the world that have also embraced citywide wi-fi, such as Taipei in Taiwan, experts say.

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Taipei currently has around 4,200 mesh nodes which cover 52 square miles - a density of slightly more than 80 nodes per square mile.

But Mark Main, senior analyst at Ovum, said although the City of London network is extremely dense it also only covers a relatively small area.

He said it isn't hugely meaningful to take network node density as the only measure of network quality with issues of geography and environment - for example city size or the prevalence of high-rise buildings - also being important.

He said operators tend to simply use the number of nodes needed to create satisfactory wi-fi coverage.

By using advanced mobile broadband mesh technology provided by BelAir Networks - which has been tested during the past 12 months - The Cloud network provides 95 per cent coverage of the City. This will rise further in the next few months, the provider claims.

The Cloud has been operating numerous wi-fi hotspots in London and other UK cities but the idea behind the new network is to provide a seamless internet connection across the whole area.

It estimates more than 350,000 people who work in and visit the City every day will be able to make use of the network.

Niall Murphy, co-founder of The Cloud, said the City of London network will be a global benchmark for metro wi-fi.

Access to the network will be free for the first month after which individual consumers will have to pay £11.99 per month.