A wireless router for “free” Public Access Internet Service for Government Digital Services

The Public Access Wi-Fi Service (PAWS) project is developing innovative methods and service models to enable ubiquitous access to online services in support of the UK Government’s Digital by Default policy. This is expected to enable the benefits of the Digital Economy to extend to Government Services. To gain these benefits requires digital access to be available to all citizens. In a country where most already have some form of broadband, the challenge to be studied in PAWS is how to give access to the final hard-to-reach citizens scattered across the UK.

The project has defined a service model built around a wireless PAWS router that supports a multi-level service model, combining high-speed access (e.g. to government services), with ubiquitous (e.g. free) access to traditional Internet services. The platform has been deployed in a 12 month pilot and has been instrumented to collect usage data from the pilot sites to shed light on actual service requirements, user perception of a limited but free service and to enable deeper understanding of whether it is commercially viable to offer such services to people in the UK. This demonstration will showcase the PAWS router and demonstrate the services that it offers.