Advertisement

This map of Berlin Wi-Fi names is oddly addictive

The Local Germany
The Local Germany - [email protected]
This map of Berlin Wi-Fi names is oddly addictive
Image: Screenshot from map by Federico Prandi.

An Italian expat explains how he managed to map and analyze some of the capital city's most colourful Wi-Fi names.

Advertisement

Italian expat and blogger Federico Prandi set out to find the weirdest Wi-Fi networks around Berlin. The end result is an interactive map charting the most hilarious to the most cryptic names, explained by Prandi. He tells The Local about how he started the project. Did your Wi-Fi make the map?

I started my weird collection more than one year ago. On the train home after a night out  I was fidgeting with my phone and landed by chance on the list of available Wi-Fi networks.

I looked at all those names changing as the train was speeding through the city. They were messages in bottles addressed to the universe as much as to the lady living on the first floor. Some were funny, others personal or even inscrutable.

I couldn't help but wonder what stories lay behind them. And so from that day on I started noting them down wherever I would find myself in Berlin.

Every uneventful square in Charlottenburg or quiet residential street in Wedding held a secret, a code I wanted to decipher. I would take out my phone and experience the city from a new, intimate perspective through those names that were meant for everybody to read and nobody at once.

Some of my favourites, in no particular order, include: Los Pollos Hermanos (reference to cult tv series Breaking Bad), Pretty Fly for a Wi-Fi, Amy WeinHaus, It hurts when IP, Tell your Wi-fi you love her, and I'm missing a pair of socks.

Click on the map below to check it out for yourself:

If your own Wi-Fi name is already on the list, feel free to write to me and let me know the story behind it.

Federico Prandi is an Italian expat living in Berlin since 2011. He’s into social media, online marketing and destroying his own reputation through a blog. Check him out on Twitter or read his blog, amorequietplace.com.

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also