ROTTERDAM, 4 June 2026 – Rotterdam now offers free and secure wifi through publicroam at 300 public locations across the city. The milestone was reached with the connection of Sportcentrum Feijenoord, adding another place where Rotterdammers can go online without using their own mobile data.
Image: From left to right: Mario Stam, digital inclusion programme manager at the municipality of Rotterdam; Marieke van Dam, deputy director of Sportbedrijf Rotterdam; and Ted Dinklo, director of publicroam. Photo: Erno Wientjens
Whether you are working in a public building, checking the news at a station or looking up a timetable in a sports canteen, the network is meant to make safe internet access easier in everyday city life. Users only need to register once through the publicroam app or website. After that, their device connects automatically at participating locations.
Secure wifi across Rotterdam
The municipality sees internet access as part of digital inclusion. By offering publicroam in more public spaces, Rotterdam wants to make reliable wifi available to residents and visitors who need to get online while moving through the city.
publicroam uses a personal account and is designed to protect user data. The service must meet strict privacy and data security requirements, making it different from open public wifi networks where users often have to log in separately or accept unclear conditions.
“Internet access is nowadays just as important as access to transport, sports facilities or public services. With publicroam, we ensure that Rotterdammers can be safely and easily online in more and more places. This is how we make the city digitally accessible to everyone,” says Alderman Achbar, responsible for Welfare, Living Together, Sport and Digital Inclusion.
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Libraries, sports centres and more
Rotterdam offers publicroam at all municipal public locations, Rotterdam libraries, Houses of the District (Huizen van de Wijk), sports centres and swimming pools. The network is also available at locations including De Kuip, the Erasmusbrug parking garage and the bicycle parking facility at Rotterdam Central Station.
The 300-location mark shows how widely the network has now spread across the city. For practical use, that means you can increasingly rely on the same wifi connection in different parts of Rotterdam, instead of repeatedly searching for separate guest networks.
Harold, a 71-year-old Rotterdammer, is clear about the service. “If people have doubts about using publicroam, I have only one piece of advice: do it! It is free, safe and easy. I think it is good that this is becoming available in more and more places, because safe internet is important.”
One registration for all locations
To use publicroam, you register once via the publicroam app or website. After that, you can automatically connect at participating locations in Rotterdam and other connected places.
For Rotterdam, the service is especially useful in public buildings where people study, work, arrange municipal matters, exercise or wait between appointments. It also supports residents who do not always have enough mobile data or who prefer not to use unsecured public wifi.
The 300th connected location, Sportcentrum Feijenoord, underlines the role of sports venues in the city’s public digital network. As more facilities join, publicroam becomes less of a separate service and more of a basic city utility you notice when you need it.
