Jonesboro Downtown Attracts with Free Wi-Fi

By Paula Bernier
Executive Editor, TMC

Wi-Fi is a beautiful thing. It makes quick and easy broadband access possible whether you’re at home, at work, at school, at the library, at a restaurant or coffee shop, at the airport, on an airplane, in a hotel, or even outside. And it’s often available for free.

Hotels and Starbucks locations were early adopters of Wi-Fi. And they used the technology to enable their guests to enjoy broadband.

Over time Wi-Fi trickled down to businesses of all types. And it today it’s offered as a free service in many cities large and small.

Today it’s not unusual for a local diner to offer free Wi-Fi. For example, Skinny J’s in Jonesboro, Arkansas, serves up Wi-Fi alongside with its hamburgers, shrimp and grits, and fried green tomatoes.

And now free Wi-Fi is available in the rest of the surrounding downtown Jonesboro area. It’s delivered by Ritter Communications.

The hope is that by providing more widespread free Wi-Fi, students and other people will be attracted to the downtown area to eat and shop. That’s according to a recent article on the new free Wi-Fi service available downtown. The piece notes that free Wi-Fi is also available in Batesville, Fayetteville, Wilson, and other areas of Arkansas.

That points to the growing influence and availability of Wi-Fi in general, and free public Wi-Fi in particular.  According to the Wi-Fi Alliance (News - Alert), 71 percent of all mobile communications flows over Wi-Fi. And Hotel Chatter reports that 38 percent of people say no Wi-Fi is a deal breaker and they will book elsewhere if it’s not offered at a hotel they’re considering.

Meanwhile, other reports talk about what cities offer the best free Wi-Fi.

According to the Daily Hive Vancouver, on a worldwide basis the top cities on this front include Tel Aviv, Israel; Florence, Italy; Taipei, Taiwan; Helsinki, Finland;

Barcelona, Spain; Perth, Australia; and Osaka, Japan. The best free Wi-Fi in the U.S., according to Vivint, is available in New York; San Francisco; Amherst, Massachusetts; Kansas City, Missouri; and Chattanooga, Tennessee.

“You’ll be hard-pressed to find a spot in New York without Wi-Fi,” says the Vivint article posted in May of 2016. “There are nearly 100 subway stations already outfitted with Internet access that’s free to the public, and more are on the way. If you don’t commute on the subway, then no problem. Lounging in the many parks will leave you connected as they even have Wi-Fi in the great outdoors. Walking from park to park isn’t a problem either, because you can usually find free Wi-Fi in the many coffee shops and restaurants in the city.”