General News
22 November, 2024
Talbot boosted by Wi-Fi
In a connective boost for the local community, a new Talbot Farmers’ Market (TFM) initiative has put the Talbot Wi-Fi mesh network online.
Made possible by a monthly subscription with Starlink, the mesh provides two separate networks, one available for residents and visitors to use, while another allowing stallholders to take credit card payments.
The Wi-Fi mesh network allows consistent connectivity along Scandinavian Crescent onto Prince Alfred Street between Bell Street and Ballarat Street.
Addressing visitor concerns about lack of reliable connectivity and EFTPOS payment is an initiative years in the making according to TFM president Patty Brown.
“We have been waiting for the internet generally in Talbot to be upgraded and we finally found out a couple of months ago from Telstra that it wasn’t going to be anytime soon and may even be the end of next year,” she said.
“For us at the TFM, we were losing stall holders and visitors because nobody could pay by card or they could for half an hour, then it would crash.
“We had stallholders losing money — we had a stallholder who thought their EFTPOS machine was working got home and found they lost a couple hundred dollars because the payments hadn’t gone through.
“We decided we had to do something about it.”
The new Wi-Fi mesh network has been in full effect for the last two markets, with many stallholders and market-goers expressing joy over the upgrade.
Ms Brown said a chance encounter with a consulting expert put the gears in motion to make the mesh network possible.
“Lucas Foxton, who is a network expert, just happened to be at the market a few months ago and helped one of the stallholders with their EFTPOS machine,” she said.
“From there, Lucas offered to advise us on the best network we could get and cover the costs for the networking hardware.
“He was very keen to be part of the community generally so we have been exceptionally lucky to have his expertise in installing everything and setting it all up.”
The hardware includes a primary access point at the Market Square and other access points set up at local stores Slightly Bent Books and Playing in the Attic among others.
Mr Foxton said he was keen to support the project and his new community.
“It was something that I was happy to do for the social good of the community, especially given what I’ve discovered in buying a small property in the area and finding out about the poor connectivity,” he said.
“I was barely getting one bar of 4G which is certainly not adequate for data transfer and you can barely take calls in the town.
“My primary motivation was to provide stallholders and visitors to the market with Wi-Fi, but my equally important secondary motivation was to implement a Talbot Free Wi-Fi Network as a utility for the town.”
Ms Brown agreed with Mr Foxton’s comments and said they are looking to further supply the network to the wider community.
“For me, this is a great example of how a small town can help each other, we are all different but this is something we can all take advantage of as locals,” she said.
“It would be great for all of us in town to have a reliable connection — we all suffer from the occasional dropouts with phones and computers.
“We are also going to offer the same service to the Talbot Town Hall Market committee for their stallholders and there are other things that we could do for the whole community a bit further down the track.”