CommunityUK (CUK), which last year began rolling out a unique new community driven FREE Wi-Fi wireless broadband internet access service for residents of the Leigh Park (Havant, UK) area (here), looks set to officially complete their deployment tomorrow.

The "self-sustaining" service, which is supported by both the Hampshire County Council and Havant Borough Council, began its original pilot deployment on 18th July last year and initially only covered the Warren Park area. Sadly a number of delays have since slowed its deployment, although the final service, which should officially complete tomorrow, is expected to cover around 11,000 homes.


A £3 setup fee, no matter how cheap, is not "COMPLETELY FREE", but that is only a tiny irritation. Indeed the wider benefits of such a service are potentially significant, especially for low-income families and jobless individuals.

It's claimed that somewhere between £750,000 and £1,000,000 is paid out by Leigh Park residents to major companies including BT Retail, Virgin Media and Talk Talk for broadband services every month, which CommunityUK describes as "staggering".

CommunityUK hopes that its project in Leigh Park can now be "replicated across the UK", although at the time of writing no firm plans for future coverage had been released. Interestingly their wireless network is based off a series of "high performance" fixed line ADSL broadband connections.