Checking your email, downloading videos, sending an order or...

Checking your email, downloading videos, sending an order or booking a hotel via your laptop could soon be a whole lot easier.

The NSW Government has announced it plans to install a free wireless broadband network throughout the Sydney CBD and other major centres by early 2008.

Some cafes and public buildings already have have free hotspots, but under the plan unveilled by Premier Morris Iemma this morning, the free network will span the whole of the Sydney CBD and North Sydney plus the business districts in Liverpool, Parramatta, Wollongong, Newcastle and Gosford.