[LINK] Gilgandra

[Roger Clarke]

[SMH/Age Next 'IT Update' column Tue 13 Nov 07 includes this snippet:]

Australia's "first free wi-fi community" is officially launched this 
Friday in Gilgandra NSW.

[Gilgandra is in Central NSW, north of Dubbo, population of 2700:
http://www.gilgandra.nsw.gov.au/index.cfm?objectid=4C0D6823-FEA3-0007-81637FC272549DFF 
]

The town's wi-fi hot-spots, set up by the company myKP, will be free 
to use.  They were paid for by the regional council and supported by 
sponsors including NetComm, Google and Vonic Australia.

Ongoing costs will be recouped through advertising built into the platform.

The network supports free wi-fi phone calls using NetComm hardware 
and Fring software.

It also includes a deployment of Google Apps, giving people Gmail, 
Google Calendar and Google Talk accounts in the town's own custom 
domain.

[Own custom domain?  But gilgandra.nsw.au is still available, 
according to 
http://www.aucd.org.au/domains/search.php?q=gilgandra.nsw.au ]

[And the Council site at http://www.gilgandra.nsw.gov.au/ shows 
nothing under Events, or Calendar, or 'wi-fi'.]

[And are users locked-in to Google Apps and Gmail, or is that an 
option?  If so, then it's a seriously nasty trial of a closed 
network.  But I presume it's not the case, in which this seems like a 
fair thing, and maybe even a good thing.]

-- 
Roger Clarke                  http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/

Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
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Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng  Australian National University
Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program      University of Hong Kong
Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW