Waipu Goes Wireless..

The mainstreet of the small Northland Village of Waipu has gone Wireless.¬† Waipu’s scottish heritage is well known and reflected in its Annual Highland Games and Tartan Week celebrations – it even has its own Pipe Band.¬† Waipu is proud of its heritage, but not just locked into the past – it has now stepped boldly into a new world of twittering, blogs and Wi-Fi Internet Access.

A local Twitterer РWaipunz has just announced Wireless Internet has come to town.  Local Twit Rosemary Neave has been twittering for a month or two and has set up www.breambay.co.nz as a local community promotion site.  As part of the Waipu Business and Promotions Group, Rosemary was enthusiastic about the proposal by Mai Wif-Fi to set up a Waipu Wireless Hotspot service.

“I travelled in Europe last year, and wireless access was a key decider for us whether we would stay somewhere.¬† It made travelling so much easier – so I came home thinking that Waipu should become Wireless”.

Clayton Denize had already set up a wireless hotspot at the Waipu Hotel, and he approached the business association to extend it down the main street.¬† So now the main street of Waipu, the Caf√©s, the Hotel and the Pizza Barn are part of Waipu’s Hotspot.¬† The Mai Wi-Fi logo is of a kiwi busy on his laptop – not only is the kiwi a well known NZ icon, but ‘Mai” has many interpretations mainly concerning communication. With the service centred on providing internet for all New Zealanders and Tourists this seemed an ideal kiwi touch.

Director of Mai Wi-Fi Clayton Denize started playing around with Wi-Fi technology about 4 years ago while operating an internet cafe in neighbouring township Mangawhai Heads. Over the years he has tested, modified and tweaked the business of providing Wi-Fi hotspots into what he believes to be the best product available on the market today.

Mai Wi-Fi offers 15 minutes of Free Wi-Fi every single day (great value as it should be in a Scottish village), with affordable options of purchasing more time 24/7 by either prepay or credit card.

Mai Wi-Fi provides businesses with a complete package all installed for a very low one off cost and the Waipu Hotel and Deli have already signed on to sell prepay cards, realising that providing Wi-Fi access is a great draw card to attract new customers, as well as giving a new service to existing ones.