Classifieds giant Gumtree has partnered with Project Isizwe to bring free Wi-Fi to low-income communities across South Africa, starting with a large roll-out in the City of Tshwane.<\/p>\n
The initiative plans to create the capacity to connect over 1 million people in the municipal area by August 2014 via 219 \u201cFree Internet Zones\u201d, with even greater capacity planned for 2015.<\/p>\n
Project Isizwe was founded by Alan Knott-Craig Jnr as a non-profit organisation with the goal of bringing connectivity to people in low income communities through free Wi-Fi zones placed in various locations across the country.<\/p>\n
The first phase of the project was launched in November 2013 at six campuses and activity hubs across Tshwane.<\/p>\n
The second phase will see an additional 213 Free Internet Zones rolled out in Soshanguve, Mamelodi, and Atteridgeville.<\/p>\n
Each of the Free Internet Zone (FIZ) locations allow users with Wi-Fi enabled devices such as mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and desktop computers to access free internet without any logins or passwords.<\/p>\n
A fair usage policy limits users to a data cap of 250MB per device per day and prohibits access to certain sites to protect against abuse of the free service.<\/p>\n
However, once the cap has run out, users will still be able to access a specialised content portal known as Tobetsa \u2013 which includes access to Gumtree\u2019s portal for job seekers and educational information.<\/p>\n
Project Isizwe and Gumtree plan to roll-out the same initiative at eight low-income schools in Atlantis and Robertson in the Western Cape, connecting 20,000 people before expanding further across the province.<\/p>\n
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