No.8 wireless provides free wi-fi at Fieldays

Fieldays attendees and exhibitors have been able to tap in to free wi-fi this year at Mystery Creek, thanks to broadband service No.8 wireless.

The rural broadband provider has established a wi-fi “hotspot” at the Mystery Creek pavilion and along the adjacent Tui Lane bar and restaurant area, so people with wi-fi capable devices can keep in touch and up to date during the hustle and bustle of Fieldays.

No.8 wireless is a provider of fixed broadband in rural homes and is run by wireless technology company Rural Link, who also have their full speed pre-paid wireless service Lightwire available at the Fieldays.

“We’ve been working with the Fieldays over the past couple of years to investigate broadband on site. We have introduced this trial step to see what people think of it and this is an investigation with the Fieldays as to what might be capable,” said Lightwire product manager Jamie Curtis.

“This current wi-fi service is a casual service for things like checking your e-mail and checking Twitter and Facebook. But we’re also talking with Fieldays about doing a more structured service that is much faster and more reliable in the future to meet exhibitors’ needs.”

A permanent broadband network at Mystery Creek would also make a fixed broadband-based Eftpos system available – a more stable alternative to the current mobile networks.

Mr Curtis said the response had been very positive with well over 150 users connected to the free service at any one time, and several requests from pavilion exhibitors to join their pre-paid service for the duration of the Fieldays.