UCL (University College London) has launched a free public Wi-Fi offering at several of its campus sites across the capital. The Wi-Fi will span 21 halls of residence plus the Grant Museum of Zoology, UCL Art Museum, Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology and the Bloomsbury Theatre Café. Rolled out in partnership with leading public Wi-Fi provider, The Cloud, the service will enable guests to go online quickly and easily – allowing access to online tools including educational resources and social media.
Each year UCL welcomes guest lecturers and the general public at its events, museums and theatre venues. UCL also runs a number of summer schools for UK and international students, which gives them a taste of university life. The Wi-Fi service will allow all of these visitors access to free Wi-Fi, either unlimited or for a certain period of time.
“Our permanent students and staff have Wi-Fi access but it wasn’t available to temporary visitors or the general public. We knew we needed to put such a service in place,” explained Mike Turpin, Head of Network Services at UCL.
“Whether that’s summer school students needing access to educational resources or visitors to our museums wanting to access a venue map – all require an internet connection and we know The Cloud has the expertise to provide a reliable service that will boost the visitor experience at UCL.”
The service will be free and unlimited for the duration of the summer. After this time the service will be free for 15 minutes a day for students in the halls of residence and free for 180 minutes a day to users at museums and theatre locations. Once the free time has expired, users can choose to purchase additional time in order to continue to use the service.
The deal with The Cloud is part of the Wi-Fi provider’s ongoing work with Janet, which provides computer network and related collaborative services to UK research and education institutions.