On Thursday night I headed into the city to join in on Telstra’s celebrations of the launch of their new #TelstraAir service. Scattered throughout the CBD on top of 30 Telstra phone boxes were specially installed light boxes, which shined a spectacular blue/purple beam up into the night sky.
The beams could be seen from over a block away so there were plenty of vantage points on the ground as well as higher up for city dwellers to delight in. The light beams signify that the Telstra phone booth are now acting as Telstra Air Wi-Fi hotspots. Almost 50,000 Australians have already joined the national Wi-Fi network, which allows eligible home broadband customers to take their home broadband data to thousands of hotspots across the country.
And Melbournians can lay claim to having one of the best Wi-Fi connected CBDs with their air network now available at over 150 sites within the city precinct grid, how cool is that! Another reason I love Melbourne so much – best city in the world.
Telstra lights up Melbourne
Thursday 30th July, 2015
I headed into Flinders Street nice and early, so I could snap some photos of the phone booths in the daylight and also get an idea of which booths would offer the best ‘light show’.
The beams of light were so spectacular, that I ended up doing rotations around 3 city blocks in the space of a few hours. Despite the chilly wind and occasional spatter of rain, the show was still a delight in every sense.
Because I’m an existing Telstra broadband customer, I’ve just upgraded my account (absolutely free of charge) to the premium cable internet service. This will allow me to have a compatible gateway to become a member of Telstra Air, so I can get online using my Telstra home broadband allowance when I’m out and about, using my WIFI enabled devices like my laptop and iPhone though the 24×7 app.
It also means Telstra Air will share a portion of my home Wi-Fi connection to create a hotspot that others can use. When you’re out, you can access Telstra Air hotspots using your home broadband allowance to give you more connection options. You’ll get a lot when you share a little.
If you’re already a Telstra premium cable internet service customer, you are all set to register for Telstra Air here.
#TelstraAir will light up Melbourne between 5.30pm and 11.30pm from Thursday 30th July to Monday 3rd August in the Melbourne CBD.
Some top phone booth spots I recommend:
- 271 Bourke St (Bourke St Mall)
- 423 Bourke St
- 1 Elizabeth St (opposite Flinders St station)
- 242 Exhibition St (near Lonsdale St)
- 196 Flinders St (opposite Fed Square)
- 259 Swanston Street
Be sure to shout out in the comments below if you do head into the city to check out the light show? Love to know if you enjoyed it as much as me?
This post is brought to you by Telstra.
