Tauranga Now One of the Most Secure Places on the Planet

Tauranga Now One of the Most Secure Places on the Planet to Use Public Internet Service

TAURANGA, Friday 2nd December 2011: Tauranga is about to become one of the few places in the world where you can use public Wi-Fi zones to safely and securely transmit sensitive details over public Wi-Fi.

Tauranga’s leading wireless internet provider, EOL, is launching a new service this month which will allow people to choose a ‘high security’ option when browsing the internet in public places such as cafes, parks and camping grounds.

EOL has set up an extensive network of Wi-Fi zones through the Western Bay of Plenty which can be accessed throughout Tauranga’s CBD, The Strand, Tauranga Hospital, Grace Hospital, Marine Parade, Pilot Bay and the Beachside Holiday Park at the base of Mount Maunganui.

EOL’s managing director Terry Coles says a ‘secure option’ is rarely available for public networks anywhere in the world, and may well be a first for New Zealand.

“Almost all public internet hotspots around the world are non-secure open networks which is why users should avoid transmitting sensitive data over them,” Coles says.

“Provided your mobile device supports it, we can now protect your privacy when you’re using EOL’s paid public network by providing PEAP* over the air encryption between your device and our servers.”

“In addition EOL's secure payment gateway provides high security every time you purchase EOL Wi-Fi Zone passes, we are looking out for you.”

Coles says the new secure service will be of particular interest to IT or business people who want to connect to their business networks remotely in a secure and protected manner whilst roaming in public places.

EOL’s free Wi-Fi zone service will continue to run alongside the company’s new paid service which will cost $10 for a one day pass (or 150MB limit). Five other passes offering different time limits and data caps are also available, with a maximum 30 day pass (or 2GB) costing $50.

“Our new paid service will include both secure and unsecure (for older devices) login options and will offer many other advantages compared to our existing free Wi-Fi zone service,” Coles says.

“With the free service there are both data and speed limits, plus other restrictions during busy times. But our paid service provides high speed full access. On-line support will also be available from EOL staff and the paid service supports automatic sign-in for returning customers for speedy access.”

EOL’s new secure network will be accessible from most of the company’s public Wi-Fi zones and can be paid for using either Visa or Mastercard.

Coles says EOL’s wireless network is a multi award-winning, world-class service and remains committed to giving Tauranga a competitive edge. “Our Wi-Fi zones provide up to three times more coverage, penetration and performance of conventional Wi-Fi thanks to our advanced technology.”

ABOUT EOL (Enternet Online Ltd)
EOL began 16 years ago as a small family business and has grown into a New Zealand success story. EOL has 70 transmission sites and 200 access points from Waihi along the Western Bay coastline to Matata, extending inland for 15km. This gives the company 90 per cent coverage in the Western Bay of Plenty region. EOL is one of New Zealand’s only independently-owned wireless internet companies and was rated the best Internet Service Provider (ISP) in 2010, and best regional ISP in 2011 by Consumer Magazine

• PEAP is an acronym for 'Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol', and is a protocol that encapsulates the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) within an encrypted and authenticated Transport Layer Security (TLS) tunnel. In simple terms it creates what is called 'a secure TLS tunnel over the Wi-Fi between the users device (phone, laptop or tablet) and the server. In our case the server is our internet gateway. So it means the customers data is protected on the EOL network, but once it leaves and goes on the Internet it has the same security (or lack of) as any normal internet connection.

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