Dutch cable operator Ziggo is expanding its pilot with free hot spots to the province of Groningen. As a result, Ziggo customers have access to 18,000 free hot spots.
On November 1, Ziggo will activate the first 10,000 hot spots, to be followed by another 8,000 on November 14.
All 18,000 customers will be able to use each others WiFi hotspot for free. The trial is a continuation of a smaller one Ziggo held in four neighbourhoods in the city of Groningen.
According to the cabler, the trial was very successful, prompting Ziggo to test the service on a larger scale. During the trial the company will examine how Ziggo’s modem/routers can be utilised to create as many Wi-Fi hotspots as possible.
Besides the technical considerations, Ziggo is also documenting the customer experience. The trial will last three months and Ziggo aims to have a minimum of 2,000 active participants. Its findings will determine whether or not Ziggo will be pressing ahead in the near future with rolling out Ziggo hot spots in the rest of the operator’s footprint.
As an incentive to join the scheme, Ziggo customers receive an additional 10 Mbps for the hit spot, so the opening up of the router to other customers does not affect the access speed.
