Calgary, AB,
01
October
2014
|
09:30
America/Denver

The City of Calgary and Shaw Communications Inc. expand Public Wi-Fi to nine new locations

The City of Calgary, together with Shaw Communications Inc., has announced nine new locations for the public Wi-Fi service. These locations include:

  • Shaw Millennium Park
  • Shaganappi Point LRT Station
  • Maple Ridge Golf Course
  • Shaganappi Golf Course
  • Father David Bauer/Norma Bush Arenas
  • Rose Kohn/Jimmie Condon Arenas
  • Henry Viney/Stu Hendry Arenas (service available end of October 2014)
  • Optimist/George Blundun Arenas (service available end of October 2014)
  • Ernie Starr Arena (service available end of October 2014)

The first locations to receive public Wi-Fi using the Shaw Go WiFi Network were Devonian Gardens, Chinook LRT Station, Village Square Leisure Centre and Southland Leisure Centre. Now, there are a total of thirteen locations offering public Wi-Fi with more locations to be added in the near future.

 “We are really encouraged by the early success of the public Wi-Fi program and the positive feedback from Calgarians,” says Heather Reed-Fenske, manager, Information Technology. “Shaw has been an excellent partner and their operational team has fulfilled our desire to expand free Wi-Fi into city facilities and allow the public to use technology when visiting a park, arena, golf course, or LRT station.”

Since the launch of public Wi-Fi, from May 2014 until the end of August, there have been more than 163,000 connections to the public Wi-Fi service, with total data usage peaking at more than 357,000 MB. The most popular location based on guest connections is the Chinook LRT Station, with over 63,000 users connecting to the ShawGuest hotspot. Guests logging in at Devonian have used over 930,000 minutes and over 188,000 MB of data, making it the most popular location for surfing the web for longer periods of time.

“Calgarians have seen great value in the Wi-Fi network and are clearly adopting and utilizing the service at a fantastic rate, underscoring the value Calgarians place on having access to a fast and reliable Internet connection,” said Greg Pultz, Vice-President, WiFi, Shaw Communications. “The solid partnership between Shaw and the City has clearly been to the benefit of Calgarians and visitors to our community. We’re eager to continue bringing more city locations online in the months ahead.”

Public Wi-Fi locations have been also exceptionally popular with Shaw’s existing Internet customers. On average, Shaw customers who use Shaw Go WiFi, use 1 gigabyte of data per month from any of the service’s 40,000 access points across Western Canada. 

Feedback collected following the initial launch of public Wi-Fi indicates that Calgarians are pleased with the experience, noting that it’s easy to register, and an excellent service to use while waiting at LRT parking lots. Calgarians have suggested adding new locations such as Crowfoot, Dalhousie, and University LRT Stations, as well as Confederation Park and McCall Lake. 

The City of Calgary and Shaw Communications Inc. will continue to work together to expand the public Wi-Fi service and provide Calgarians with greater access to technology and city services.

 

For more information, contact: 

Shaw Communications Inc.
Chethan Lakshman, VP, External Affairs
(403) 930-8448
chethan.lakshman@sjrb.ca