Telkom Mobile rolls out free unlimited Wi-Fi

·25 Apr 2013

Telkom Mobile has announced that it will offer free unlimited Wi-Fi access at over 400 hotspots across the country to subscribers on qualifying plans.

“We are especially pleased to offer subscribers on qualifying Telkom Mobile SmartPlan, SmartSaver, SmartInternet, SmartInternet Promo, SmartInternet Saver plans free unlimited Wi-Fi,” said Attila Vitai, Managing Director of Telkom Mobile.

Pre-paid and top-up subscribers are also allocated free Wi-Fi access for seven days or 30 days, subject to product-specific terms and conditions, when they recharge with airtime.

Subscribers who are not on qualifying plans can buy Telkom Mobile Wi-Fi ad hoc bundles valid for 30 minutes for R25 or 60 minutes for R40.

“Telkom Mobile is rolling out an extensive network of Wi-Fi hot spots. So far there are more than 400 secure Wi-Fi hotspots concentrated in metropolitan areas across the country,” said Vitai.

Telkom Mobile Wifi hotspot map

Fair usage policy

According to the Telkom mobile website, qualifying contract and hybrid deals have a fair usage cap of 10GB per month, after which Telkom said the speed will be throttled to 128kbps.

Pre-paid and hybrid customers that get access by recharging may have a lower cap.

According to Telkom, the Wi-Fi service speed shall be reset to normal speed at the beginning of each month.

How to connect

For users to connect to Telkom Mobile’s Wi-Fi hotspots, the operator explained that subscribers will have to set their phones to connect using EAP-SIM authentication.

This will let the SIM cards for qualifying post-paid and hybrid subscribers automatically authenticate them when in a Telkom Mobile Wi-Fi hotpot, the operator said.

Telkom Mobile went on to explain that subscribers will also be able to connect a single extra device such as a notebook or tablet by linking its MAC address to the SIM card.