If you have n't noticed the little pink box which now adorns Telstra Public phones it possibly because there are no Telstra Public phones where you live.

At one time they were on nearly every large intersection and at every local milk bar or shopping strip. Now they are rare to find. Telstra systematically removed them from places which were experiencing little or no call activity. Mobile phones took hold and the need for the shiny square glass boxes vanished as the equation between maintenance cost versus asset worth started to go exponentialy negative.

$100 million dollars later,(here) now we have free WiFi on what is left of the public telephone infrastructure. A pink box above the Telephone kiosk denotes it as a "hot spot". It is also next to a rental car.

Which could come in handy if you found yourself marooned for what ever reason in the old red light district of the city...sure it's happened to all of us.

TelstraHotSpot

 

Conversely it's a great opportunity for Telstra to browse through all your stuff(s)..why not? not as if you read the privacy agreement. But don't let this detract from the useful elements.

Using a disposable telephone with a offshore SIM card comes to mind. Send and receive emails or files, login into Government Websites without using your home setup.

There could be a dozen different ways one could use Anonymity tools and so forth that make the Telstra Free WiFi an opportunity for digital and information activists to use to their benefit.

Careful research of course on your System Preferences and maybe the odd 'duck duck go' search,(proxies, MAC spoofing) and it should be another useful and free tool.

I have n't tried connecting with Tor but will add this test later.