Tuesday, November 24, 2009 East Central Illinois
The Answer Book 2005
|
Previous 2005 Answerbook story |
The Answer Book |
Next 2005 Answerbook story |
|
Go wireress: The internet is never more than a few blocks away BY GREG KLINE © 2009 THE NEWS-GAZETTE On a nice summer day when the heat and humidity had left town temporarily and a refreshing breeze wafted down the street, Leah Songer sat at a table outside the Aroma Cafe in downtown Champaign enjoying the weather. "It makes you feel like you're not trapped in a cubicle," the University of Illinois graduate student in speech language pathology said. While it wouldn't be accurate to say you can get online anywhere in Champaign-Urbana, it's probably not too far wrong to say you're rarely more than a few blocks from it, mostly for free, or just the price of a cup of coffee.
"They're everywhere, even in the bars, which is funny," said Songer, who does research, answers e-mail and more using the wireless nodes. If you're a University of Illinois student or staff member, the campus is in the middle of a program to cover itself with wireless Internet access, which already is available in areas ranging from the departure lounge at the UI-Willard Airport in Savoy to the Hydrosystems Lab on North Mathews Avenue in Urbana. "We've got pretty good geographic coverage at this point and now we're just trying to fill in the gaps," said Beth Scheid, director of communications technologies for the UI's Campus Information Technologies and Educational Services division. Scheid and Debbie Fligor, manager of the campus wireless program, said the UI has been installing wireless systems to serve individual departments that requested it for a few years. But a program to blanket the entire campus, in connection with a general upgrade of the UI's network systems, began in 2004. "The goal is to provide wireless access in what we are terming every public area of the campus," Scheid said. "Basically, everything that's not a private office." The system, called QuickConnect, works with pretty much any standard Wi-Fi-equipped computer, even hand-held devices, Fligor said. Students need only open a Web browser and enter the network identification and password they receive when they're accepted to the UI. "It's the same password they use to register for their classes," Fligor said. That lets them use e-mail, most of the Web and other Internet functions, although the UI blocks some things for security reasons. For those who need absolute functionality, the university has licensed virtual private networking software, which can be downloaded at www.cites.uiuc.edu/vpn/index.html. There are versions for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and Solaris, Fligor said. A list of access points on campus and a map of the areas covered can be found at www.cites.uiuc.edu/wireless/ locations.html. Meanwhile, much of downtown Urbana is covered with a wireless network courtesy of a volunteer effort called the Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network, www.cuwireless.net, which has attracted international attention. Although it's open and you might pick it up from some spots on the street, however, the effort is more about creating a wireless community computing network to link city residents and to cooperatively share the cost of broadband Internet service among neighbors than about mobile Internet access. But lots of local coffee shops, a number of restaurants and even, as Songer noted, some bars in the community boast Wi-Fi access points these days. For a nonexhaustive list of area wireless points in Champaign-Urbana, see the accompanying box. |
||
|
Previous 2005 Answerbook story |
The Answer Book |
Next 2005 Answerbook story |