One of our favourite countries around Asia is Taiwan. Great weather, great food, great people and great humour, what is there not to love?
Adding onto the list is this: Taiwan became one of the first countries in the world to offer free Wi-Fi on a mass scale to its citizens, and has recently extended that to any foreign tourist, also for free.
The Taiwan government-backed free “iTaiwan” wireless network was launched back in 2011, and according to CNN, now has about 4,400 hotspots in major tourist spots, transportation hubs, cultural establishments and government offices all over the island country.
Citizens needed just their local phone number to register and then use the semi-fast 1 MBPS service. To register, tourists can present their passport at Travel Service Centers which are found at major airports, train stations and mass rapid transit (MRT) stations across the country. After providing an email address, users are then given an account number that can be used to gain free online access at major indoor public areas and hotspots.
Tourists with a native mobile phone number or native prepaid card number can also register for an account the same way as locals: by simply inputting their mobile phone number on iTaiwan’s website, entering a code and activating their account with an authorization code which is sent via SMS.
Of course, everyone loves it:
There are so many free WiFi points in Taiwan 🙂
— Angela (@Roxyangelaify) November 30, 2013
Layover in Taiwan…at least there’s free wifi!! 😛
— Sam Tsui (@SamuelTsui) October 31, 2013
(Acting as if) Working on the plane! Taiwan is so awesome, there’s free wifi at most places, even in the mini van… http://t.co/3IQmqlJDlk
— Juli/BunBunMakeup (@BunBunMakeup) September 21, 2013
There’s free wifi everywhere in taiwan take notes america.
— Jason Woo (@jayyyysonnnn) September 5, 2013
Taiwan charging station and free wifi at mrts so considerate #taipeiexpat pic.twitter.com/j2Qnkckahg
— Greg Hung (@ghung) September 20, 2013
In Taiwan, even the night markets have free wifi… pic.twitter.com/Iq739Ce0gU
— James Hill (@jameshilltaiwan) August 10, 2013
The free wifi service is not just available in Taipei, but is also extended to tourists in New Taipei, Taichung and Tainan, made possible through roaming agreements between iTaiwan and the four local governments.
If you are looking to rent reliable wifi routers, you can check out the wifi routers by Changi Recommends. To help you with your year end trip planning, Changi Recommends is offering Vulcan Post readers a promo code: travellers going to Taiwan can enjoy $5/day WiFi rentals. Simply enter the code ‘Vulcan5’ when you make reservations online. This code is valid for travels by 31 Dec 2015.
