Private Manly ferry gets free Wi-Fi

in brief Private operator Manly Fast Ferry has announced that it will offer passengers free Wi-Fi on its ferries as of today.

(Credit: Manly Fast Ferry)

"In our quest to always put the passengers first, it was really important to us to bring the daily commute into the 21st century," Manly Fast Ferry operations director Will Ford said in a statement.

Provider CafeScreen is the technology provider for the roll-out, installing Cisco gear on two of Manly Fast Ferry's vessels so that they are completely covered with Wi-Fi service. CafeScreen relies on a couple of telcos for the 3G coverage to power the hotspots, according to the company's founder and CEO Ruwan Weerasooriya.

The program will have an initial pilot period of three months, for which Manly Fast Ferry will pay a set price, no matter how many gigabytes its commuters use. After that time, all having gone well, Manly Fast Ferry and CafeScreen will negotiate a long-term deal.