Charleston Becoming more User Friendly for Wireless Throughout the City

Young Professionals enjoy being connected at all times and having the ability to get to locations with a laptop to get work completed on a moments notice at any time of day. THIS is great news. For our focus on Young Professionals, this is very important. I'm pumped; Charleston is getting connected! Enjoy the article below from the Charleston Gazette.

Businesses offer wireless for customers

Ann Ali
Graphic by Kevin Cade

Daily Mail Staff Friday May 26, 2006

There's no such thing as a free lunch. But you can get free Internet with your lunch.

Wireless Internet -- or wifi, which is short for wireless fidelity -- has been available for a while at area coffee shops. But lately the wireless phenomenon has become a perk at other locations too.
Now, Kanawha Valley residents can use their laptops to surf the Web along with a Tudor's biscuit, Hooter's wings or a vehicle tuneup.

"The service is no longer a ‘nice to have.' People have to have it, and West Virginians are no different," said Scott Lewis, a spokesman for Anchor Free, a nationwide provider of Wireless Internet access and online directory of free wifi hot spots. "Wifi is no longer an amenity; it's a necessary service."

The allure of free, wireless Internet is making its way to some non-traditional computer locales. Lewis said his company is seeing a lot of Laundromats offer wireless Internet, and the most unusual place he has known of is his church near Chicago.

Lewis did not think West Virginia was behind on the trend. He said free Internet will start to take over the market.

"Pay service still trumps free service pretty handily, but the pendulum is really starting to swing the other direction," Lewis said.

In Charleston, customers who are waiting at Smith Company Motorcar can use their laptops to check the stocks in the Volvo service area. The business plans to have availability in each service area by the end of the year.

At Tudor's Biscuit World and Gino's Pizza locations, the wireless Internet service came with a security system, so offering it to the public presented no additional cost.

Unfortunately for the restaurants, not all Internet users come in for a biscuit or a slice of pie.
"People stop along the road, they just pull over, and I see them with their laptops," said Bob Jones of B&J Surveillance Services. "People think they're real discreet about it ‘cause they think they're stealing it."

The decision to offer wireless Internet at Coonskin Golf Course was not inspired by the leisure-seeking golfers but by the businesses and corporations hosting meetings in the golf course clubhouse.

"In order to keep the business we've got and entice more, it's something we needed to do," said Jeff Hutchinson, director of parks and recreation. "It was very inexpensive to do it, and it helped our business."

Hutchinson said the high-speed Internet allows clubhouse and office staff to transmit data better, but he does not expect to see golfers teeing up with their laptops set to sites providing details on improving your swing.

Yeager Airport was the third airport in the United States to offer free wifi, behind Lexington, Ky., and Allentown, Pa. Airport Director Rick Atkinson said the entire airport was equipped with wireless Internet for less than $10,000.

Atkinson said at first there was no antenna in the baggage claim area because he anticipated people passing through, collecting their luggage and leaving.

But airport managers got complaints of people losing their Internet signal on their PDAs (personal digital assistants) as they passed through, so an antenna was placed in the baggage claim area.

"There's not a time that I've walked through the terminal that there's not someone who has a laptop out," he said.

A Hooters restaurant provides an entertaining environment, so it's hard to believe Internet access would be necessary. But Manager Tim Skiles said he's seen a lot of business completed during lunch. The Internet access, which has been available for about three months, has not yet been advertised, he said.

"It's just word-of-mouth through the girls working on the floor," he said.
Area coffee shops such as Sofia's Gourmet Coffee and Taylor Books have long offered the free wireless service.

"There's not a place in here that you can't sit down and use your laptop," said John Welling, Panera Bread general manager. "I always tell people if some place doesn't offer it, hey, come over here because we do."

At Capitol Roasters, supervisor Kori Menking said she sees meetings take place during the week because of the wifi availability.

"We just kind of hope that they'll buy a drink while they're doing their stuff," she said.
Coffee drinkers at Hot Spot Coffee Shop on Oakhurst Drive in Charleston can send e-mail while smoking a cigarette, thanks to the coffee shop's license to house video lottery machines.
John Grass, manager of the Hot Spot Coffee Shop, said the decision to offer wifi came with his decision to upgrade his own service.

"There's no using it up; it costs the same," he said. "To me, there was no reason not to."
The UPS store in Kanawha City and 35th Street Beach, the bar located above UPS, offer Internet service for $10 an hour or $5 per half hour.

Many hotels offer wireless Internet but few offer the service for free. Every Microtel Inn offers free long distance phone calls and free Internet use.

"It was an idea that came through all the Microtels," said Rosa Fleck, Microtel Inn General Manager. "Most of our customers are the business, corporate people who do have their laptops with them."
Contact staff writer Ann Ali at 348-4819.