City of Vancouver and Shaw Expand Free Public Wi-Fi to Over 500 Locations

The City of Vancouver has announced its city-wide free public Wi-Fi has expanded, making it “one of the largest free public-Wi-Fi networks in North America,” in partnership with Shaw.

“Shaw’s expansion of #VanWiFi is a huge win for our residents and businesses, covering more than 500 locations (about 550 now live) in the downtown core and surrounding areas,” said Mayor Gregor Robertson, in a statement issued to iPhone in Canada.

According to the city, free public Wi-Fi now is available at over 600 locations. After soliciting bids for a partner to implement free Wi-Fi in 2014, Telus helped power initial locations in 2015, while Shaw was selected for the second phase beginning last year, at no cost to the city.

The city asked Shaw to provide free Wi-Fi at nine city-owned social housing sites and six outdoor sites. The Granville Street location (300-1200 Granville) is now live with other sites set to go live in the coming months.

Social Housing

Modular Housing (1500 Main Street)
Alexander (58 Alexander)
Antoinette Lodge (535 E Cordova St.)
1105 Seymour
Central Residence (42 E Cordova St.)
Gresham (716 Smithe Street)
Kingsway Continental (3484 Kingsway)
Granville Residence (1261 Granville St.)
Oppenheimer Lodge (450 E Cordova St.)

Outdoor locations

Granville Street (300-1200 Granville)
Canada Place
Jim Deva Plaza (1200 Bute Street)
English Bay Beach (‘Bath House’)
Sunset Beach Concession
Oppenheimer Park Fieldhouse

Shaw will also provide free Wi-Fi to over 500 locations spread through the downtown core, including busy areas such as:

Broadway (Oak to Cambie)
Commercial Drive (Venables to 1st Ave)
Davie Street (Jervis to Burrard)
Denman Street (from Davie to W. Georgia)
Downtown Eastside
Gastown
Granville Street (from Drake to Cordova)
Main Street (Broadway to E. 16th Ave)
Robson Street (from Denman to Burrard)

Mobi by Shaw Go bike station locations will also have free Wi-Fi, with 49 out of 125 currently enabled.

Below is an embedded map of free #VanWiFi locations:

Free Wi-Fi speeds will be around 10Mbps with no limit or data usage caps, while the city says no personal info is needed to access the network.

How to access free Wi-Fi in Vancouver? Connect your device to the VanWiFi SSID, open your browser, accept terms and conditions, then you’ll be redirected to vanwifi.vancouver.ca, which by then you’ll be connected to the web.