Tshwane citizens can now make calls, download movies using free WiFi

If you live in Tshwane, you’ll be pleased to learn that you can now use the city’s free WiFi offering to make phone calls and download movies.

The city, thanks largely to a partnership with non-profit Project Isizwe, has offered free WiFi some time now. Executive mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa today announced that three new services, WiFi Voice, Drive In and WiFi Chat will be added from today. WiFi Chat is a web-based platform for information and feedback, as well as a new service delivery mechanism where users can log queries and complaints.

With Wi-Fi Voice users connected to the Tshwane Free WiFi network using the WiFi Voice application, will be able to make unlimited free calls to each other and the city’s customer care line, while WiFi Drive In will enable users to watch a selection of movies including some of the latest Hollywood blockbusters, on their private devices in a WiFi Drive Inn area.

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“The high cost of voice calls creates a barrier to stimulating economic growth and creating opportunity for our youth. The City of Tshwane will effectively reduce the cost of doing business in and with the city through the Tshwane WiFi Voice app,” says Zahir Khan, COO of Project Isizwe, the non-profit organisation driving the process of bringing free WiFi to communities.

According to a press release sent out by Projext Isizwe, WiFi Drive In will be available over weekends and offer family entertainment around 30 Hollywood blockbusters on personal devices, complemented by food kiosks, flea-market stalls and kids’ areas to offer a true family experience to enjoy content previously reserved for a privileged few. The first site will be the Fountains Valley Park and more sites will be enabled based on the model developed here.

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“We envisage that this site will offer a secure environment where people can congregate and be entertained. It is important for the city to create environments for family entertainment where citizens can break away from their usual routine and engage in a unique, ground-breaking experience,” Khan says.

The Tshwane Free WiFi network has 700 live sites, in more than 95% of the wards in the city. So far the service has had more than 720,000 unique user