To kick off our new series about where to find free wifi in major cities, Reggie Ho looks at one of Asia’s most wired metropolises – Hong Kong
It is hardly a surprise that China’s Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong has one of the most efficient telecommunications systems in the world. After all, information has always been what the city thrives on. The British chose to set up a colonial outpost here for its strategic position as a business hub, and information has always been vital to business activities. During the days when cross-strait tension was high, Hong Kong bridged communication between Mainland China and Taiwan. And today, even as part of China, it remains the one city in the country where freedom of information is upheld.
According to the latest figures from Hong Kong’s Census and Statistics Department, there were 182,093 business establishments with internet connections in the city as of 2009, with 16.8 per cent of them using wireless technology. With wifi so readily available and increasingly prevalent, many businesses are offering it to customers for no extra cost. But even some of the city’s residents might not know that wifi is free at many venues around town, meaning you don’t have to spend a cent to surf the web and check your emails. The following are some completely free “hotspots” where you can log on.
Hong Kong International Airport
Yes, wifi is available from the moment you arrive. With your wifi-enabled device, find “#HKAirport Free WiFi” and select, launch the browser, and enter any valid website address; click “Accept & Continue” after reading all terms and conditions, and you are ready to surf. Turn off the data roaming function to make sure that you are on wifi. Visit www.hongkongairport.com for more information
Government buildings and parks
Wifi connection is available for free in most public buildings and government-managed outdoor spaces. The obvious locations are libraries, museums and performing art venues such as City Hall and the Cultural Centre, but who would have thought that even when sitting in the park or at the cooked food centre of a wet market building, one could get high-speed internet connection?
Some of these locations include the second floor of the Central Market (80 Des Voeux Road Central), Chater Garden (Chater Road, Central), China Ferry Terminal (passenger departure waiting hall; 33 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui), Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal (inner and outer pier passenger departure waiting hall; Shun Tak Centre, 200 Connaught Road, Sheung Wan), Kowloon Park (22 Austin Road, Tsim Sha Tsui) and Lockhart Road Market Cooked Food Centre (2/F, 225 Lockhart Road, Wan Chai).
However, acess is not round-the-clock and in most buildings it is restricted to within office working hours. For more information, go to www.gov.hk
Public transport
The city’s highly efficient and reliable Mass Transit Railway (MTR) offers free wifi at some of its busiest stations, such as Hong Kong Station, Central, Admiralty, Wanchai, Causeway Bay, Quarry Bay and Mongkok. Look for the iCentre – where a number of wired computers are located also available for public use – and find the wifi signal for “MTR Free Wi-Fi”, connect and launch a browser to read the terms and conditions. Click “agree” and you will have 15 minutes of surfing time. Each eligible gadget can enjoy five of these 15-minute sessions a day. Visit www.mtr.com.hk.
Most of the Cityflyer airport buses by Citybus (numbers A10, A11, A12, A21, A21 and A29) are equipped with wifi. Some of the in-town buses also offer the service. Spot the sign by the fare collection box that says “Free Internet Access on Wi-Fi Bus”; at the back of the seat there are instructions on how to access it. Find out more at www.nwstbus.com.hk
Shopping malls
You can’t turn a street corner in Hong Kong without seeing yet another shopping mall, and the good news is, many of the major ones that you’re bound to visit offer free wifi – but often with time limits.
Swire Properties shopping centres offer every gadget six 30-minute sessions of free wifi access every day. Once inside the property, find the name of the mall on your wifi detector, click and launch a browser for the terms and conditions page, and click “agree” once you have read them through. These locations include Pacific Place (www.pacificplace.com.hk) on top of Admiralty MTR Station and Cityplaza (www.cityplaza.com) on top of Tai Koo Shing Station in Island East.
At Elements (www.elementshk.com), on top of Kowloon Station and under the International Commerce Centre (home to The Ritz-Carlton), free wifi is also offered, but the signal is best in the Gold zone, where HMV is located. There is no password required, nor is there any time limit for use.
