“Everyone deserves a worry-free, secure connection.”

The Concertgebouw is the 1,500th location in the Netherlands where visitors can get online automatically and securely via Publicroam. With this, the Dutch tech startup from Zeist takes a new step in its mission to transform public Wi-Fi into a reliable gateway to the internet that is available to everyone. Publicroam is now the largest Wi-Fi roaming service in the Netherlands.

Securely connected, even in the hall

Wi-Fi has become so common that we hardly think about the risks anymore. Yet public Wi-Fi is often vulnerable: hackers and Wi-Fi sniffers can watch unnoticed or intercept data. Publicroam offers a secure and privacy-friendly solution for this. Visitors sign up once for free, and then connect automatically and securely at any of the now 1,500 participating locations in the Netherlands, from town halls and libraries to theaters, provinces, and healthcare institutions—and now the Concertgebouw as well.

Hospitality in the broadest sense

“Internet access is a key part of modern hospitality today. It allows us to not only enrich the audience musically but also to connect them digitally. That connection must, however, be secure and responsible. That’s why it was logical for us to partner with Publicroam, a forward-looking step that fits our ambition to let everyone enjoy the Concertgebouw without a care,” says Suzanne Verweij, Head of IT at the Concertgebouw.

A national movement

The growth of secure Wi-Fi is supported in part by the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, the SIDN fund, and the municipalities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Eindhoven, and The Hague, which help public organizations switch to a secure solution through the ‘Zorgeloos Verbinden’ (Worry-free Connection) scheme. With this, the Netherlands is taking an important step toward a future where secure Wi-Fi is as natural as clean drinking water or street lighting.

“It is a great honor that a national institution like the Concertgebouw recognizes the importance of secure and anonymous internet access,” says co-founder Ted Dinklo. “It makes perfect sense!”