Why shouldn't everybody have free access to the Internet? If only it were that easy.....

Other WiFi operators only cover urban areas where they can make lots of money from business travellers. Mobile operators 3g sticks barely work outside the M25. And even worse they both charge you for access. The fact is in this day and age if you do not have Internet access, you are disadvantaged. That is just not fair :-(

So we decided to do something about it. We have a fund in place to get Internet access to people that need it. The fund is paid for by the commercial side of our business, corporate sponsors and advertising we place at the start of your Internet session.

In September 2009 we ran a competition in the UK to provide up to 50 communities with a free public WiFi hotspot for 3 years.  Our toughest job of the year was picking through the hundreds of communities that applied and choosing just a few.  BE Broadband stepped up and offered to pay for all the new broadband connections needed for the project  - thank you BE!!  In November 2009 we started to install the service - you can see track our progress on our blog.  Freerunner and BE are proud to be rolling out free Internet access in the following communities:

View Freerunner - Free WiFi competition winners in a larger map

Freerunner have also partnered with JustGiving.com to put free WiFi Internet access where its really needed - charities. If you charity has a broadband connection we will come and install the Freerunner service for free in your location.  Its perfect for charity shops as it gives people another reason to visit.  It also gives you the chance to help bridge the digital divide.  JustGiving.com and Freerunner have committed to provide this service to 500 charities, totally free of charge, forever.

Help us give free Internet

If you would like to sponsor a community to get totally free Internet access, do get in touch. There are lots of reasons to get involved.

If your community does not get chosen, please do not get upset. It just means there are only so many free locations we can do with our money. So we have to prioritise. We also have a community scheme that allows local business to support. If five local businesses take our commercial service (all within 5 miles of each other) we will put free access in a public space (like a village hall) or a school. Better still those five businesses get to advertise on the service (for free), to show the community how they are supporting them.

If you want to get involved in any of the above drop us a mail: connectmenow@freerunr.com