Analysis

Free-of-charge wi-fi on the streets of Perth? What a time to be alive.

Just 10 years ago, the promise of being able to check football scores and watch YouTube clips while being dragged round shops on a Saturday afternoon would have sounded like science fiction.

But in an age when livestreaming and downloading videos are becoming more and more commonplace, services like the one being rolled out by Perth and Kinross Council could soon prove essential.

However, just how good is the wi-fi connection in Perth?

At the moment, the service is at the trial stage and will be tweaked before a proper launch, sometime in the coming weeks. But even in these early days, it’s fairly impressive.

Getting online is relatively easy, with the “Perth City Wi-Fi Free” connection appearing automatically on smartphones.

You’re then redirected to a service called Purple Portal with the City of Perth logo and – if you already have Facebook – you can sign in with just a couple of taps.

According to a speed check app, the city centre offers a download rate of 5.21 Megabits per second, generally accepted to be a good surfing speed.

So, how do we test how good the service is?

Council officers will have their own ways of putting the new connection through its paces, but The Courier came up with its own scientific study: Can I download an episode of Stranger Things from Netflix in the time it takes to walk along the High Street, buy a bacon roll and get back to the office?

The answer, I’m pleased to report, is yes. It takes a bit longer than usual for the Netflix app to fire up, but after that it only took about 20 minutes to download the 48-minute pilot episode.

Welcome to the future, folks!