Shoppers and visitors will now be able to enjoy free, fast and reliable wifi in Dorchester town centre.

As reported Dorchester Business Improvement District (BID), which has just been voted in for a second term, wanted to improve the towns patchy phone coverage and together with the local councils and Brewery Square, their ambition has become a reality.

The network was installed by Dorset company Fusion WiFi and covers Dorchester’s main shopping streets, Brewery Square and the Borough Gardens.

Dorchester BID project director Phil Gordon said: “This has been a great example of how a BID can work well in partnership with all the local councils and businesses to achieve a valuable resource for the town.

“We already know it’s useful as during the pre-launch testing phase we have had more than 6,000 logins by over 2,000 unique users. People are not having to eat into their monthly data bundles with the free service.

“People can now use the internet in town to discover all the shops, attractions and find their way to them easily using Google maps or other online products. It should really help with communications in town too, as we will be able to alert users to events taking place that they could otherwise miss.”

The project was funded by not only Dorchester BID, but Dorset County Council, West Dorset District Council, Dorchester Town Council and Brewery Square.

The service is provided by placing network access points on CCTV columns and building walls. These work together and ultimately hook into the public fibre optic network provided in part by the Superfast Dorset project.

Daryl Turner, Dorset County Council Cabinet member for the natural and built environment, said: “In our increasingly digital age people use and expect social media and internet access as they go about their daily lives. For the most forward looking locations, allowing people to get online is now an important part of the shopping and visitor experience.”

Mayor of Dorchester, David Taylor said he was particularly pleased that the coverage could extend to the Borough Gardens for the thousands of people who use the park."

Charlotte Spracklen, Brewery Square centre manager, said: “Brewery Square have thoroughly enjoyed working on the Dorchester wifi project with the Dorchester BID.

"It's a fantastic idea to bring free wifi to residents and visitors when they are out and about shopping, eating and enjoying what Dorchester has to offer. We're looking forward to continuing to work alongside the BID on this exciting project.”