Durban free beachfront Wi-Fi lie
The eThekwini Municipality rolled out 14 Wi-Fi hotspots along the Durban beachfront between April 2021 and June 2022, but recent testing in the area revealed that the network no longer exists.
I walked the Durban beachfront several times over the December 2024 holidays. I could not find the “eThekwini Wi-Fi” network at any location along the promenade, even when trying to connect at the site of signs advertising the service.
While several Wi-Fi networks from surrounding restaurants and businesses were visible, the free public Wi-Fi network was nowhere to be found at several points along the beachfront.
In April 2024, the municipality announced that it had rolled out 1,031 free Wi-Fi access points across the region, including several along the Durban beachfront.
“Moving towards its goal of becoming a Smart City, eThekwini Municipality has 1,031 free Wi-Fi locations available to meet your cyber needs for work, school, or job hunting,” the municipality said.
However, subsequent comments on the page suggest that the free Wi-Fi hotspots are outdated, which could indicate a lack of maintenance.
“Ubani (who is) the service provider of the eThekwini Wi-Fi? This Wi-Fi is like it was installed and left like that. When you log in, it shows 2020 information,” one user posted on the eThekwini Municipality Facebook page in June 2024.
The user said this was related to a hotspot along the beachfront near the Addington Hospital.
To its credit, the eThekwini Municipality responded promptly, saying it would escalate the issue to the relevant department. However, this hotspot wasn’t working when I tried to connect in December 2024.
The initiative, launched in 2017, aims to provide the municipality’s residents and visitors with 500MB of free daily Wi-Fi.
It followed a three-phased approach to roll out the public Wi-Fi hotspots, with the pilot phase running until the end of 2017. According to eThekwini’s data, 109 access points were installed during this period.
These were established at various public sites, including schools, libraries, clinics, markets, hostels, and museums.
The municipality deployed the hotspots using equipment from various manufacturers, including Huawei, Cisco, Altai, and Rukus.
In 2019, the eThekwini Municipality established 240 more Wi-Fi access points at public sites across the municipality, also including clinics, libraries, and hostels, as well as parks like the Durban Botanical Gardens and museums.
During this phase, it shifted its approach to the networking equipment it used, with most access points using Huawei equipment and just two using Cisco equipment.
The rollout of free Wi-Fi access points accelerated in 2020, with 374 new access points added to the roster. In 2020, the eThekwini Municipality exclusively used Huawei networking equipment for its installations.
The Durban local government rolled out 100 more access points across 39 sites in 2021, bringing its total to 823 free Wi-Fi access points as of May 2021.
It has installed more access points in the years that followed.
“The city has installed free Wi-Fi hotspots in Warwick Junction, Florida Road and the beachfront in keeping with plans to promote Durban as a smart city with access to the digital world,” the eThekwini Municipality announced in June 2022.
“This is an extension to the more than 1000 sites already in place at our libraries, Sizakala Centres, community halls, clinics and other places. The rollout of free Wi-Fi will continue in other areas.”
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