Wednesday, March 14, 2007 Wireless downtownSonic.net and city provide 14 blocks of Wi-FiBy DANE GOLDEN ARGUS-COURIER STAFF Much of downtown Petaluma is now a Wi-Fi hot-spot. A roughly 14-block coverage area, largely a block or two in either direction from Petaluma Boulevard as it runs from East Washington Street to E Street, is now open for wireless business. Santa Rosa-based Internet service provider Sonic.net, in cooperation with the city of Petaluma, has installed a system consisting of three nodes that will offer speeds as high as two megabits per second. “Anyone with a Sonic.net account, that includes a dial-up account or a DSL account, will be able to use this for free,” said Sonic.net wireless manager Jason Kane. The company will also offer a flat-rate day pass of $3.50. To access the hotspot, select “SonicNet” service from your list of available wireless services. According to Kane, the network will be free for the next week or so until the transaction functionality is enabled. The network will also not be security-enabled until that time. Anyone in the coverage area can make use of the service for their laptop or handheld devices. Conceivably, businesses with wireless-enabled desktop machines could also make use of the service. According to Kane, the company is testing the business model to see if it pays for itself. “We’ve decided to give it as much time as it needs and see if the model can handle it,” Kane said. “If this works out and we’re able to recover the costs of the equipment we’ve installed, I’d like to expand the network further.” Sonic.net is using a three-node system made by Tropos Networks. Equipment for the project cost about $12,000. Project manager Jeanne Michè of the public works department directed the city’s portion of the effort. (Contact Dane Golden at dane.golden@arguscourier.com) |
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