Internet browsing has evolved yet again with the start of a new era in Maitland.
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Telstra customers in Maitland can now access their home broadband at key WiFi hotspots across the city intead of chewing into their more expensive mobile phone data.
Telstra, still the most used service provider, has adapted three payphones in Maitland and one at East Maitland to create the Telstra Air network.
The hotspots were introduced in December on a trial basis for six months.
Now that has lapsed Telstra has closed the network to people with other carriers.
“With the launch of Telstra Air, local residents can stream music, catch up on their favourite TV show or browse the web when they’re out and about at local shopping precincts, parks, cafes and transport hubs – all by using their Telstra home broadband allowance,” Telstra Country Wide Hunter area general manager Chris Cusack said.
“The availability of WiFi in the area can really support tourism, make it easier for local businesses to promote their services and encourage visitors to spend more time in places where they can connect.”
There are also hotspot payphones at Kurri Kurri and Rutherford.
In addition to new hotspots, Maitland households connected with Telstra will be able to turn their own home broadband connections into hotspots to create a vast WiFi network across the region.
Telstra home broadband customers with an ADSL, cable or NBN connection, can become a Telstra Air member at no additional charge provided they have a compatible hardware.
The network is being created using innovative WiFi sharing technology.
It works by Telstra Air members sharing a small portion of their home internet bandwidth (not their data) in exchange for using their own home data allowance at hotspots across the nation and even overseas.
People will be able to find and automatically log onto their nearest Telstra Air hotspot with the touch of a button using the Telstra Air app.
Maitland is among more than 250 towns and cities across Australia now connected to Telstra Air, which has more than 4000 hotspots nationally and access to 15 million hotspots overseas through Telstra’s partner Fon.
New Telstra Air WiFi hotspots
Maitland: 273 and 420 High Street,
24 Elgin Street
East Maitland
15 Mitchell Drive
Rutherford
7 West Mall Street
Kurri Kurri
174 Lang Street