Wireless Minneapolis

[magenta]

I went to the Wireless Minneapolis Update at the Central library today. I missed some of the meeting because I couldn't find the room it was in, and when we got there, it was packed, and I couldn't see or hear much. This is what I know, I don't promise it's complete.

The schedule is, so far, that area 1, which is downtown to north of Lake Street and east of 35W, should be available next week, 6/19. Area 2, which will include Lake Street to 46th east of 35W, should be available 7/17. There will be another community meeting June 28th at 7:30 (I think) at Global Market. Other areas will come after that. All the info is available online at http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/wirelessminneapolis/index.asp

The price will be $19.95 for 1 M speed, more for faster connection, if available. It will cost less if you are willing to sign up for a 2 or 3 year contract. The US Internet CEO was really rather vague about a lot of stuff, except that he wants everyone to sign up for wireless. If you currently have a wireless card in your laptop, that will probably work. US Internet wants to sell everyone a special modem for $80 that will greatly increase the connection speed. But they were short on technical details. (ambartil said they don't send the tech guys for something like this, because they will talk over most peoples' heads without realizing it. But they could have brought someone who knew a little more. CEOs know nothing.)

There is/has been a task force on "Digital inclusion" which is making sure minorities of various sorts have better internet access, including getting wireless enabled computers in as many homes as possible. To fund this, 5% of the fees for wireless will go to the digital inclusion fund, along with grant money and public funds.

There was also a presentation about what they are calling the "civic garden". There will be portals for each area of the city, with links to various city services, non-profits, etc. There is a survey about what people what on the portals at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=wdh5gjCZUF2FYfuGcvohkA_3d_3d


Soon, no more dial up for me!

Comments

[sraun]

I'm hoping that they don't tie to the MAC address of your card - what I really want is to be able to subscribe in order to share it amongst my Nokia 770 and iraunink's and my laptops when we're away from home. I don't see it as a replacement service for my DSL (yet), since I'm running a home server.

about USI

[theperfumer.livejournal.com]

jamuraa and I were on one of the early installments of USI - it was OK for a little bit, but then it got copmletely unreliable and often slow. While it was nice to have a prevalent alternative when I hit coffeeshops, and jamuraa swears that the customer service is outstanding, the overall service was way too inconsistent for both of us, especially since we both of us are highly computer and Internet dependent for our livelihoods.

Re: about USI

[magentamn.livejournal.com]

If you are talking about wireless in Seward, they aren't finished yet. Try it after next week. Though I'm still not sure how strong the signals will be. Also, they said that in multi-unit buildings, they may need a booster of some sort.

[naomikritzer]

I am counting the days, because my DSL is insanely unreliable and frustrating and I hate Qwest and their so-called "customer support" with the red-hot hate of a thousand burning suns.

Qwest?

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

Qwest has customer support? I did not know this!

Re: Qwest?

[yarram.livejournal.com]

Back when US West was becoming Qwest, my parody of their slogan was "US Worst is now QWorst!" And that was when I was temping there.