A number of surprise entries have been named in The Telegraph’s list of the world’s best cities for Wi-Fi.
While the likes of Macau in China, Helsinki in Finland and Taipei in Taiwan fail to come across as tech powerhouses, they have all been named in a list of nine Wi-Fi friendly locations.
Compiled by telegraph.co.uk writer Donald Strachan, the table praised the likes of Paris (France), Tel Aviv (Israel) and Perth (Australia) for bringing speedy connections to heavily congested areas.
Tel Aviv, for example, launched a free Wi-Fi network in 2013 that provided connections around popular areas like its Mediterranean promenade and in Old Jaffa.
Helsinki also offers free and easy access to Wi-Fi through a network of hotspots near public buildings, while the availability of internet on buses and trains is also high.
Some countries host several free Wi-Fi networks around key parks, libraries and public buildings along with a paid service. In the case of Hong Kong (China), discoverhongkong.com says this is in the form of the country’s Tourist SIM, costing £5.40, which grants access to an additional 12,000 connections.
New York proved to be one of the more obvious inclusions on the Telegraph’s list – this owed to the city’s provision of Wi-Fi in restaurants, cafés and even subway stations, along with the city tourist office’s free Wi-Fi maps.
Florence in Italy was also named as one of the world’s friendliest cities for Wi-Fi, with Telegraph praising its 72 hours of free internet at a network of hotspots.
