Eircom deploys unlimited ‘free’ Wi-Fi at Dublin Airport

10 Sep 2012

Eircom and Dublin Airport Authority are to begin offering free unlimited Wi-Fi at Dublin Airport for all users without registration.

More than 1m passengers passing through the airport have made use of the Eircom WiFiHub service which was launched in December last year.

To access the free service, passengers just need to log onto the Dublin Airport Free WiFi network or the Eircom WiFiHub and click the ‘Continue to Surf’ button on the homepage.

Users can also download the free Eircom WiFiHub app for Android and iOS smartphones.

“Dublin Airport is one of the few capital city airports in Europe to offer its customers free Wi-Fi and this move puts us well ahead of the vast majority of our peers,” said DAA commercial director Maurice Hennessy.

Cost of Wi-Fi at European airports

The free service contrasts with London’s Heathrow, Stanstead and Gatwick airports, which charge €3 per hour, while Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris charges €4.50 per hour with just 15 minutes free and other mainland Europe airports like Frankfurt and Munich charge €4.95 per hour. Amsterdam’s Schipol Airport charges €6 per 30 minutes with the first hour free, while Belfast’s International Airport and George Best City Airport charge €5.99 for 90 minutes.

The Dublin Airport service was originally free for 10 minutes with a €1 charge for a full day’s access.

In July there were more than 600,000 Wi-Fi sessions at Dublin Airport, with users spending 218,680 hours accessing the internet – equal to one person spending 25 years online.

“Wi-Fi is becoming increasingly important in our day-to-day lives and there is real demand for fast, reliable, hassle-free Wi-Fi access,” Eircom director of products and strategy Elaine Robinson explained.

“Dublin Airport is the largest Wi-Fi location in Ireland and supplied 22,290 Wi-Fi sessions on the busiest day so far this year. We already have more than 1,000 Eircom WiFiHub hotspots across the country and we are continuing to invest in the roll out of our service, which will significantly increase our footprint,” Robinson added.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com