Last week it was announced that Stellenbosch would become the first town in South Africa (and quite possibly Africa) that would have an entire town under free Wi-Fi (we’re talking meaningful bandwidth here). Well lo and behold, it’s here. Already. And it’s pretty damn awesome.

They’ve taken a great approach – when you join the network, there’s no irritating window that pops up and asks you to enter your details or any of that rubbish, like you normally find at coffee shops and so on. You just connect. And you’re online. It’s fantastic.

While I was online, I tried a speed test. I’ve got to be honest, it’s not that fast. It’s perfectly fine for browsing on your phone or sending a few emails, but I doubt that you’d be able to watch YouTube videos or have a Skype conversation. Internet radio is a little hit and miss – but I got a good spell of about 20 min while walking around town. That’s pretty sweet. Also, you can’t really put a price on free.

The network is currently only available in the city centre, but will include all populated areas of the Cape Winelands municipal area by July.