‘FREE’ wifi for residents will come at a cost for a town council.

The Ffestiniog Town Council has been informed that the costs and terms of a community wifi service would likely run to approximately £15,000 for the network to cover Blaenau Ffestiniog and Llan Ffestiniog.

Much of the money raised would come from Gwynedd Council and Welsh Government but the local council would still be responsible for funding about £1,500 (10 per cent) of the overall cost.

The running cost of the service will be around £800 a year with the first-year installation fee included in the initial costs.

In order to keep within data protection rules everyone who uses the service would have to submit their email address which will be used to keep track of how the system is operating.

If consumers need more data then there will be a charge of a fee for the service.

The wifi can be accessed outdoors only but if businesses wish to have the service inside its building then the installation costs will be around £200 and the council can charge a fee of around £30 a year for the service.

It is hoped to install the equipment within the next few weeks.

The town council has now agreed to pay the contribution towards the installation costs and they are to ask the Ffestiniog Railway if they have an interest in the system that could be very useful to their customers and also ask them if they could contribute to the costs and promote the service.

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