Free WiFi and New Zealand seems to feel like it’s something that’s a long way off yet. Cafes, bars and hostels appear to be restricted by the lack of capacity into and out of the country and can be charged a great deal as a result of you making heavy use of the net, so there’s very few places you can access WiFi for free – no, not even Starbucks or MacDonalds. Almost everywhere with WiFi access will provide you with a password upon purchase which is often limited to 50 MB or similar in one session.
Some towns such as Dunedin have created areas where it is offered and 2010 Mayoral candidates for Wellington were using it as a teaser to try and get them into office, and some schemes are being suggested in the run up to the Rugby World Cup, but in our experiences the locations are few and far between.
Here’s a list of places we know that offer free WiFi In Wellington although some will require a purchase for cafes. Please, add to the comments below whether you are a traveller, cafe, bar or hostel owner, resident, or otherwise. I’ll add to this list as I travel around but it can only be extended with your help.
NEWS : TradeMe and the Wellington City Council are planning to offer free WiFi along the Wellington waterfront from December 2010. This area is likely to stretch from Queens Wharf to Te Papa – bring it on! See this link for news on free WiFi along the Wellington Waterfront.
Bars :
Malthouse – 48 Courtney Place. Great place to sample one of Wellington’s biggest range of international beers.
Cafes :
Mon Ami – 8 Bond Street
Simply Paris, 181 Cuba Street – enjoy browsing while munching on some Euro style cafe food and lovely coffee. Simply Paris also have a location in Newtown on Riddiford Street, but not sure if that offers WiFi or not.
Esquire Coffee chains – free with purchase. Locations at Esquires, Courtenay Place and Esquires, 5 Woodward Street (just off Lampton Quay)
Transport :
Wellington International Airport – free connection to the network in the area
Airport Flyer bus – airport link bus from Upper Hutt to Wellington International Airport
Hostels :
At the moment I’m unaware of any hostel in Wellington offering free WiFi to guests!
We’d like to keep this list as up to date as possible so if you know of anywhere in Wellington that offers free WiFi, or WiFi with a purchase please let us know below so we can add to this list. There is also a list of WiFi spots being maintained on Jahoog Projects – Free WiFi in New Zealand so I’d encourage you to update that as well.