Mumbai Becomes India's First WiFi City. Here's All You Need To Know

With 500 hotspots activated across the city the Devendra Fadnavis-led Maharashtra state government has made Mumbai the first WiFi city in India. This means that all key locations of India's financial capital, including railway stations, tourist spots, government offices and educational institutes, are now Wifi enabled. From Aksa Beach to Gateway of India, from the Fashion Street & Khaugalli to Kala Ghoda, and from Marine Drive to the High Court; the government has embarked on an ambitious project to ensure that Mumbaikars remain connected to the World Wide Web at all times. To view the list of WiFi hotspots, click here.

Here are some important things you must know about the project:

• Till January 31, you can enjoy these services free of cost. After that, usage of 100 MP would be free for users, and a fee, which has yet to be decided, will be imposed if usage exceeds that limit.

• While the Maharashtra government had earlier sanctioned Rs 192 crore to implement the first phase of the Wifi project, the project is likely to cost the state Rs 194 crore for a period of five years.

• By May this year, 1,200 WiFi hotspots will be activated under the second phase of the project.

• Engineering major Larsen and Toubro is implementing the project.

How to connect?

In the Wifi list of your mobile phone, the hotspot coverage area will reflect as Aaple_Sarkar_Mum-Wifi. To complete the log-in process, you will have to provide your mobile number, at which a one-time password (OTP) will be sent. Using the OTP, you will be connected to the internet.

The speed

Service provider Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited will be providing bandwidth with a speed of 20Mbps.

How secure is the network against hacking?

“We have enabled many security levels to ensure it is safe and secure. First, it is linked with your mobile number and users can log in through an OTP. This will enable us to track users' activity. We also have very strong firewall system at the data centre,' VK Gautam, principal secretary of Maharashtra's information technology department, told Hindustan Times.

Give feedback

A Twitter handle, @AS_Mum_WiFi, has been created by the state government, where people will be able to share their views about the services.