Go-Go Wi-Fi
Are city wi-fi plans on or off these days?...
Over the past couple of years, the advant-garde discussion for econ developers and tech futurists is to develop city-wide wi-fi programs and areas consisting of public networks, clouds, and hotspots. Yet, the plans for cities seem to be crumbling while here in Chapel Hill public wireless access nodes are emerging.
Well, what happened? Smart Mobs has a great collection of articles on the whys and hows of the drop-off rate with municipal wi-fi programs. With Earthlink's mass layoffs, San Francisco alliance with Google has cooled off considerably. Chicago is out with their plan that was planned to revolve around an ad-driven network. The good news is that the plan could be revisited in '09 when more bandwidth becomes available.
To establish a solid wi-fi plan, you not only need the right people pushing the effort, but also you need the right culture to demand free wi-fi services. People living in Chapel Hill and Carrboro have been craving hotspots for quite some time.
For example, Brian Russell has been promoting Chapel Hill wireless hotspots through his site, yesh.com since the beginning of 2006.
Russell has done a much-needed service for people who are local to the area and in search of wireless hot-spots. (Especially, when you consider the numb-headed moves of certain institutions who lock access points to the general public.) Be sure to check out his mash-up of wireless hotspots and accessible locations.
With the amount of new construction and fast hopes pinned upon Chapel Hill development projects in the downtown area, the good news for certain areas of Franklin Street and Chapel Hill is that the knowledge-based workers in the area will have public places to work through the town's Internet pilot project....Especially, when you consider the amount of cities who have backed out of their deals because public officials are viewing public wireless as a business opportunity instead of public service.
With that said, here is the list of hotspots that have been activated by the Town of Chapel Hill on Franklin Street....I hope you enjoy by pre-season scouting report.
If you try the service and have a great luck, by all means, send a note to wifi@townofchapelhill.org.
New Wireless Hot Spot List
U.S. Post Office on East Franklin Street - Great spot! Especially, when you consider the long wait for traffic tickets. The overflow from the court at Hillsborough is absolutely ridiculous, and this is a perfect spot for allowing people to get work done in this line. As an added bonus, the service will hopefully mesh with the hotspot at Four Corners and there will be constant activity for sporting event madness on weekends. Major Thumbs-up!
Inter-Faith Council, 100 West Rosemary Street - Great spot...And badly needed. Now, who will use the spots...? By the way, is there a recycled laptop program going there?
Hargraves Center - Badly needed...And very valuable for the Northside community. Thank you. On my end, I now have a spot to check my mail while I'm shooting buckets. Now, can we change the rims on the playground? The rims are like cement blocks.
Chapel Hill-Orange County Visitors Bureau - Nice, nice...Let's see where this stretches.
411 West Italian Cafe- I would have liked to have seen the West End Wine Bar get the nod. Yet, my boys were way ahead of the game with their node. And that is why the West End remains the number one place to congregate for any activity.
With that said, 411 is a great move...Still remains one of the top places to be seen in the state of North Carolina. Why...Hit that place up on a Saturday night after gameday.
I was always impressed with the wireless cloud network installed in Athens, Georgia. I'm glad to see that Chapel Hill has stepped up to the plate to promote more activity for creative and knowledge workers in the Chapel Hill and Carrboro area.
Reactivated,
IronDog
Over the past couple of years, the advant-garde discussion for econ developers and tech futurists is to develop city-wide wi-fi programs and areas consisting of public networks, clouds, and hotspots. Yet, the plans for cities seem to be crumbling while here in Chapel Hill public wireless access nodes are emerging.
Well, what happened? Smart Mobs has a great collection of articles on the whys and hows of the drop-off rate with municipal wi-fi programs. With Earthlink's mass layoffs, San Francisco alliance with Google has cooled off considerably. Chicago is out with their plan that was planned to revolve around an ad-driven network. The good news is that the plan could be revisited in '09 when more bandwidth becomes available.
To establish a solid wi-fi plan, you not only need the right people pushing the effort, but also you need the right culture to demand free wi-fi services. People living in Chapel Hill and Carrboro have been craving hotspots for quite some time.
For example, Brian Russell has been promoting Chapel Hill wireless hotspots through his site, yesh.com since the beginning of 2006.
Russell has done a much-needed service for people who are local to the area and in search of wireless hot-spots. (Especially, when you consider the numb-headed moves of certain institutions who lock access points to the general public.) Be sure to check out his mash-up of wireless hotspots and accessible locations.
With the amount of new construction and fast hopes pinned upon Chapel Hill development projects in the downtown area, the good news for certain areas of Franklin Street and Chapel Hill is that the knowledge-based workers in the area will have public places to work through the town's Internet pilot project....Especially, when you consider the amount of cities who have backed out of their deals because public officials are viewing public wireless as a business opportunity instead of public service.
With that said, here is the list of hotspots that have been activated by the Town of Chapel Hill on Franklin Street....I hope you enjoy by pre-season scouting report.
If you try the service and have a great luck, by all means, send a note to wifi@townofchapelhill.org.
New Wireless Hot Spot List
U.S. Post Office on East Franklin Street - Great spot! Especially, when you consider the long wait for traffic tickets. The overflow from the court at Hillsborough is absolutely ridiculous, and this is a perfect spot for allowing people to get work done in this line. As an added bonus, the service will hopefully mesh with the hotspot at Four Corners and there will be constant activity for sporting event madness on weekends. Major Thumbs-up!
Inter-Faith Council, 100 West Rosemary Street - Great spot...And badly needed. Now, who will use the spots...? By the way, is there a recycled laptop program going there?
Hargraves Center - Badly needed...And very valuable for the Northside community. Thank you. On my end, I now have a spot to check my mail while I'm shooting buckets. Now, can we change the rims on the playground? The rims are like cement blocks.
Chapel Hill-Orange County Visitors Bureau - Nice, nice...Let's see where this stretches.
411 West Italian Cafe- I would have liked to have seen the West End Wine Bar get the nod. Yet, my boys were way ahead of the game with their node. And that is why the West End remains the number one place to congregate for any activity.
With that said, 411 is a great move...Still remains one of the top places to be seen in the state of North Carolina. Why...Hit that place up on a Saturday night after gameday.
I was always impressed with the wireless cloud network installed in Athens, Georgia. I'm glad to see that Chapel Hill has stepped up to the plate to promote more activity for creative and knowledge workers in the Chapel Hill and Carrboro area.
Reactivated,
IronDog
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