Royal Welsh Show creates public wi-fi hotspot

Organisers of this month’s Royal Welsh Show have taken an innovative approach to improving internet access by creating a free public wi-fi hotspot.

In keeping with the farming theme, a farm quad has been fitted with equipment to deliver the service within a 500m radius of the NFU Cymru stand on the Llanelwedd site.

The service will help ease mobile phone signal congestion when thousands of visitors descend on the showground from 21-24 July.

NFU Cymru director Mary James said the union decided to take action because it appreciated the frustration of poor internet access in rural locations.

“It is obvious visitors will want to use their phones to access visitor information and post pictures, tweets and so on. As we understand how frustrating a lack of broadband in rural areas can be, we wondered if this was something we could help with,” she said.

The union teamed up with an ATV supplier and a communications company to deliver the service.

“We are really excited about this project and we hope it will add to people’s enjoyment of what will be an amazing show,” said Mrs James.

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