panOULU is a

municipal wireless network A municipal wireless network is a citywide wireless network. This usually works by providing municipal broadband via Wi-Fi to large parts or all of a municipal area by deploying a wireless mesh network. The typical deployment design uses hundreds ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. panOULU is operated by City of Oulu,

University of Oulu The University of Oulu () is one of the largest universities in Finland, located in the city of Oulu. It was founded on July 8, 1958. The university has around 14,200 students and 3,800 staff. 21 International Master's Programmes are offer ...

Oulu University of Applied Sciences University of Applied Sciences (OAMK) () is a university of applied sciences in , Finland, with approximately 9,000 students, including around 240 international degree students. The number of incoming exchange students annually is approximately ...

and Oulun Puhelin Oyj. The network coveres central

Oulu Oulu ( , ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of North Ostrobothnia. It is located on the northwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Oulujoki, River Oulu. The population of Oulu is approximately , while the Oulu sub-regio ...

(including various buildings, such as the city hall, public libraries,

Oulun Energia Areena Oulu Ice Hall (), previously known as Raksilan jäähalli and called Oulun Energia Areena since 2006 for sponsorship reasons, is an ice sport arena in the Raksila Sports Centre, located in the Raksila district of Oulu, Finland. It is operated by ...

ice hockey arena, etc.), and the campus areas. In addition, outside of Oulu, the network covers

Oulu Airport Oulu Airport (; , ) is located in Oulu, Finland, south-west of the city centre. The airport is the third busiest airport in Finland after Helsinki-Vantaa and Rovaniemi airport, as measured by the number of passengers and landings. There are arou ...

Oulunsalo Oulunsalo (former , now considered outdated by the Institute for the Languages of Finland) is a former municipality in the region of Northern Ostrobothnia, in Finland. It was founded in 1882 and merged into the city of Oulu on 1 January 2013, alo ...

, the ferries to

Hailuoto Hailuoto (; ) is a Finnish island in the northern Baltic Sea and a municipality in Northern Ostrobothnia region. The population of Hailuoto is (), making it the smallest municipality in Northern Ostrobothnia and the former Oulu Province in terms ...

, University of Oulu campus in

Kajaani Kajaani (; ), is a town in Finland and the regional capital of Kainuu. Kajaani is located southeast of Oulujärvi, Lake Oulu, which drains into the Gulf of Bothnia through the Oulujoki, Oulu River. The population of Kajaani is approximately , w ...

, and the Chydenius Institute campus in

Kokkola Kokkola (; , ) is a town in Finland and the regional capital of Central Ostrobothnia. It is located on the west coast of the country, on the Gulf of Bothnia. The population of Kokkola is approximately , while the Kokkola sub-region, sub-region h ...

. The network also covers parts of

Ylikiiminki Ylikiiminki () is a former municipality of Finland. It was consolidated with the city of Oulu on 1 January 2009. It was located in the province of Oulu and is part of the Northern Ostrobothnia region. The municipality had a population of 3,512 (3 ...

. The network is free to use and requires no passwords; it can be used with any computer, cell phone, PDA or other device that is capable of using

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

. the network has over 900

wireless access point In Computer networking device, computer networking, a wireless access point (WAP) (also just access point (AP)) is a networking hardware device that allows other Wi-Fi devices to connect to a wired network or wireless network. As a standalone ...

s.Kaleva: PanOulu-verkko rikkoi käyttäjäennätyksen, 06.11.2007
Based on coverage and potential number of users, it is currently the largest public wireless network in Finland. Also, it is the first free and open wireless network that operates in an airport in Finland.

References

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External links

panOULU home page
Wi-Fi providers Oulu University of Oulu