Category Archives: Wireless

I don’t remember reading before about what Maine is doing about wireless . It is nice to see such a coordinated effort. Other states should definitely consider doing something similar.

bq.Yahoo Maps shows WiFi hotspots now. Quite useful! – Dave Winer It is indeed, especially if you are looking at a map like Dave offers. If you are looking at the map of the area I am sitting in, though, it looks a tad different. But one location is better than none.

bq.Libraries are seen by government as one of the key public places to make internet services available to those that do not have connectivity at home. Wi-fi connections in cafes and bars are becoming increasingly popular with around 2,500 hotspots in public places around the UK. “Libraries must to able to do the same,” said Mr Potts. – BBC Providing wireless access is something that I think libraries should definitely be planning for. But I am not as enthused over the issue of having laptops available for check-out. My experiences with that back during my education career were mostly negative. I think they might be better served by finding a way for people to purchase their own at a reduced price.

I was thinking some more about setting up an experiment wireless area using PublicIP. Looking at the documents for setting up the gateway, it does not take an especially powerful computer. Just out of curiosity, I went looking for the cheapest computer I could find that would complete the configuration. Remember my experience with Microtel? You can get an amazing inpensive model at an amazing price. All that would need to be added is a second network card and a cd-rom drive. Interesting.

Public IP‘s ZoneCD is “a Hotspot-On-A-CD”. Essentially it appears to be everything one would need to create their own “safe, free, wifi hotspot.” I have been to the site a couple of times over the last couple of months, but haven’t had time to actually play with the software yet. When I do, I will write more about my findings. Remember: if you miss the wireless boat, you will have to play “ketchup” with McDonald’s. See also Public Wireless Note: I did download a copy and play with it. It loaded fine but I didn’t exactly have a suitable testing environment. More later.

The Orange County Library System has been offering wireless access for around 8 months. Users have to register and the MAC address from their network card is registered with the the Radius Server at the library. So far, about 80 users have registered although no one was online at the time of our demonstration. Out-of-town visitors can buy access for $5.00 for one week. I expect that usage will increase over time. Two interesting sidenotes: The library is very near Lake Eola, which offers wireless access as part of the Orlando Downtown Wireless District. And there is a Starbuck’s nearby as well.

The key to spreading broadband to rural areas in the UK may just be found through a plan that target libraries. Some, though, are not optimistic.

In response to the growing need for libraries to control access to their wireless networks, GIS Information Systems, Inc. is introducing Wireless Access Manager. Wireless Access Manager (WAM) is a complete hardware and software package that GIS configures for libraries to install on a PC. The WAM software interfaces the hardware to GIS Polaris integrated library system and also can support any integrated library system that supports SIP2. - GIS Perhaps wireless access is not as dead as I previously thought.

NetGear is coming out with a new product soon, the WGT634U Super Wireless Media Router which seems to be rather highly regarded. Since I was just saying recently how much I wanted a product like this, and I have a router and hard drive that will work very nicely with it, I think this is the perfect product for me. As for the future, I think it will look something like this…

Jenny linked to this set of Library Hotspots. It would seem to have some slightly wrong information about the Austin Public Library since their website states that they offer free access. Use with due care. One thing I meant to write about and never got around to was how nice it was having WiFi access while staying at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta a couple of months ago. I look forward to the time when it is more of a standard than a luxury.