Summertime conjures up lots of outdoor memories for people. Some prefer to head to the beach but others – especially city dwellers who have no access to sand and waves – enjoy spending time in parks. While in the grass and between the trees, we love to toss a Frisbee, walk our dogs, eat a picnic lunch, or check Facebook (News - Alert), send e-mails and listen to our favorite streaming music app. Nowadays, people want to be connected at all times, even when enjoying an oasis of nature, so it’s no surprise that many American cities are undertaking initiatives to provide Wi-Fi network services in parks.
The Big Apple (News - Alert) has gotten into the game, announcing that 32 of its parks would have Wi-Fi access. This comes as good news to Gothamites who wish to stay connected when relaxing in the grass, but there is one big catch in all this: free access to the Wi-Fi will be limited to 10 minutes per day, with a cap of 30 minutes per month. After hitting those limits, park goers will need to pay $0.99 per day for the access.
The people of San Francisco are a bit luckier, however, as Google (News - Alert) has decided to offer up a cool $600,000 to provide two years of free Wi-Fi access to 31 parks in the City by the Bay. Installation is scheduled to begin in November and could be completed as early as April of next year. Among the many benefits of this deployment would be the opportunity for individuals who don’t have Internet connections at home to access the Web.
This is just the latest piece of evidence that supports the notion that our society has moved past hoping for Internet access to a time where we now demand it. Whether we are at a doctor’s office, retail store, auto dealership or park, we need to be connected at all times. This creates a huge demand for Wi-Fi deployments. And, for the most part, business managers at these locations have little knowledge or experience in deploying Wi-Fi networks.
That’s where a company like iPass Unity Network Services comes in. The experts at iPass (News - Alert) can create a WAN or Wi-Fi network that provides a great experience, planning, deploying, managing and futureproofing the network to ensure a truly usable experience for anyone – including those kids feeding the ducks or playing with the hackey sack. This frees up park managers to do what they do best – make sure I have a nice place to enjoy a fun and relaxing time outdoors!
Edited by Rich Steeves