Free internet access in CT

Free internet access in CT
14/11/2007 14:01 - (SA)

Cape Town - Capetonians who do not own computers or who cannot afford internet café fees can now access both, free of charge, through the City of Cape Town's expanded Smart Cape Access Project, government news agency, BuaNews reports.

A public access point was opened on Wednesday in the foyer of the 44 Wale Street building.

Five computers have been installed which can be used by anyone for up to forty-five minutes per day.

The computers can be used to surf the internet, and every user gets a free e-mail account.

"Since we launched the Smart Cape Access Project in 2002, over one hundred thousand people have made use of the computers installed in Cape Town's public libraries," said Nirvesh Sooful, the City's Chief Information Officer.

This, he said, was the first move to expand computer access to other public buildings, so that more people could gain experience of computer use.

"We hope that workers and residents in Cape Town's CBD will find this new facility useful."

The city's e-governance strategy is built around three activities namely, giving people access to computers, helping them develop the skills to use them, and providing online information that is useful and relevant to local people.

"Our Library Access Points and Digital Business Centres are still only reaching a small proportion of the residents of our city.

"If people are to get computer experience, which is a vital skill for employment in the modern economy, then we need to build more facilities like this one," said Sooful.

The computers highlight websites that feature local businesses and communities.

The 44 Wale Street building, in the heart of the CBD, opposite the Provincial Government buildings on the corner of Long Street, housed the offices of the former Cape Metropolitan Council.

The building is now used by departments of the city administration. The foyer area has been converted into a large public space with information and displays covering a range of city services, as well as the Smart Cape computers.

The Access Point will operate from Monday to Friday from 09:00 through to 16:00. - BuaNews
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Try it.

Come back when you think it's actually SLOWER than Virgin Mobile. Now that's saying a lot.:eek:
 
Excellent news,
this should be extended not only to public buildings but also to low income areas.
 
I think it's great that Cape Town has this project and I most certainly hope that the service improves in future.

However the speeds in the past has been bad (as in 1 or 2 Kb/s if you're lucky) and the facilities don't allow flash drives. The libraries that I have been to also don't have any printers available.
 
Five computers have been installed which can be used by anyone for up to forty-five minutes per day.

Ok...lets see...thats 4 million people ...... x 45 minutes with 5 PC's ....yup....everyone will get their chance to surf the net every 68 or so years! Gee this country should really be proud of itself! Viva SA viva!:rolleyes:
 
redheadfan said:
I think it's great that Cape Town has this project and I most certainly hope that the service improves in future.

However the speeds in the past has been bad (as in 1 or 2 Kb/s if you're lucky) and the facilities don't allow flash drives. The libraries that I have been to also don't have any printers available.
Click to expand...
In my experience never as FAST as 1 kb/s .

I kid you not, but I saw an IBM 486 with goldfish bowl monitor attached in a library. There was also a fat hole with wires inside where the floppy drive used to be.

The keyboard was older - 1st generation IBM (& very dirty).

A scruffy kiddie was playing on it, in-between reading his comic (attention span of a flea)

I tried once to get hold of Nirvesh Sooful, but they never return calls.

Gawd knows what they did with Bill & Melinda's Millions donated.:eek:
 
Skeptik said:
In my experience never as FAST as 1 kb/s .

I kid you not, but I saw an IBM 486 with goldfish bowl monitor attached in a library. There was also a fat hole with wires inside where the floppy drive used to be.

The keyboard was older - 1st generation IBM (& very dirty).

A scruffy kiddie was playing on it, in-between reading his comic (attention span of a flea)

I tried once to get hold of Nirvesh Sooful, but they never return calls.

Gawd knows what they did with Bill & Melinda's Millions donated.:eek:
Click to expand...


PC's like that are just a waste of electricity. :D
 
Telscum ripped me off so badly this month, don't be supprised if you see me in that queue :eek:

Can we take our own notebooks ? :D
 
Yeah. And not all 4 million people don't have internet access by the way. So that little analogy in the beginning is kind of skewed.
 
Its strange that the article does not mention that it was paid for by "The Bill & Melisa Gates foundation"

The library staff did not receive training & supervising the use is a headache for them. When I had a look the user where young boys, googling rude words. That not what internet is about.

Internet cafes do a better job, at least you get usable speed for as little R7.5 per hour.
 
first thing that comes to my mind is the dirty... someone with the most greesy sticky spilling coke on the desk, the keys are slimy and the desk it sticky, and finger prints all over the monitors, mouse that sticks to your hand because of the sweat left on it from the previous guy...
 
The idea is not bad and it is just the beginning, hope it will be implemented in other towns and areas soon with reasonable bandwidth available for surfing the net. Future may bring the free WiFi access points where you can bring your own laptops.
 
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