Estonia Embraces Wi-Fi Wireless Internet Access

securitas writes "BBC Technology's Clark Boyd reports on one man's efforts to make free 802.11 Wi-Fi wireless Internet access ubiquitous in Estonia. An estimated two-thirds of Estonia is now covered by wireless hotspots according to Veljo Haamer, who convinced Estonia's major oil companies, Neste and Statoil, to install free hotspots at gas stations. Two-thirds of Estonia's approximately 280 public hotspots are free to use, all of which are marked with signs. But Haamer still wardrives for dead-spots and next plans to get free wireless access to public parks and green spaces. Last year Slashdot covered Estonia's legislation declaring Internet access a human right."

Neste

[rasjani]

Just a sidenote, Neste is not Estonian company. Its Finnish company, part of the bigger Fortum concern.
Links:

• http://www.neste.fi [neste.fi]
• http://www.fortum.fi [fortum.fi]

Statoil

[blcamp]

And Statoil is not Estonian, either.

It is Norwegian.

http://www.statoil.com/

Re:Neste

[targo]

Just a sidenote, Neste is not Estonian company

Neither is Statoil. I believe the phrase "Estonia's major oil companies" should be read as "major oil companies operating in Estonia".

Not true.

[Anonymous Coward]

First, I live in Estonia.

The claim of 2/3 coverage is of course nonsense. I don't know where this came from. The BBC article tells that 2/3 are free to use (although I don't think it's true, maybe it was so half a year ago), not that 2/3 of the country is covered.

Re:umm, isn't something wrong here?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yep, its wrong, the article only says that 2/3 of them are free. I am living in Estonia, and there are plans to cover our capital - Tallinn - with free wifi access.

But the hotspots are ubiquotuous here - and clearly marked. So when you come to visit, dont forget your laptops.

Re:umm, isn't something wrong here?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm Estonian from Tallinn and most certainly it's not true that 2/3 of the country has been covered by wireless internet. What mr. Haamer was meaning was probably that in 2/3 of the country you're able too find a spot where you can use wifi. Whether it's a gas station, hotel, cafe etc. A quite big part of the country is covered by forests and there it would be very difficult to find any urban comforts, not only wifi :-)
In the capital, Tallinn wifi spots are quite easy to find, but many of them are not free. No coverage on the streets yet, but the city authorities are planning to cover some parks in the center with wifi.

Re:Lady on the train

[Anonymous Coward]

Living in Tokyo myself, I can only assume that after causing a scene with a mentally handicapped lady, everyone was staring at you, the crazy gaijin causing a scene. Was that game of Tetris THAT important?

For those not in the know, there are signs on all the trains in Tokyo that specifically say you can't use your cell phone on the train, and it must be turned off near the priority seats at both ends of the car. (These are for senior citizens, handicapped people, pregnant ladies and so on so forth. It's also a radio wave free zone, for those with pace makers.)

Re:In related news...

[stud9920]

First it's Luxembourg and second, it's 5000 times greater than the City of Vatican

Re:Estonia, most promising of new ex-USSR EU state

[barbazoo]

Low crime rate?! I have to call bullshit:
8th worst nation for murders [nationmaster.com]
5th worst nation for robberies [nationmaster.com]