The Ypsilanti Courier
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Some Ypsilanti businesses go wireless
PUBLISHED: March 13, 2008
Don't look now, but Ypsilanti has gone wireless.
Advertisement
A community collective of residents and business owners have begun providing free broadband Internet access with the mission of bridging the digital divide and help everyone gain access to technology and the Internet.
The project was begun by Ypsilanti residents and activists Kevin Hill, Steve Pierce and Brian Robb. Seventeen businesses have joined the downtown network in the past two weeks.
Working with $1,200 in seed money, the men began the network of wireless providers and radios that allow access from many downtown locations.
Partners in the venture include Robb, who also is a Ward 3 City Councilman; HDL, Inc., which is owned by Pierce; the Downtown Association of Ypsilanti, Dave Curtis, owner of Pub 13, Club Divine and The Best Damn Sports Bar Upstairs; Brian and Lisa Brickley, owners of The Tap Room; and Derrick Block, owner of TC's Speakeasy. These entities provide bandwidth to the network.
Sponsors, who provide the radios that repeat the signal and connect the network, include: John Cole-man, owner of Look In The Attic; Gregory Batianis, owner of Wolverine Grill; Abe Asani, owner of Abe's Coney Island; Break Away Travel; Mike Kabat, owner of Haab's Restaurant; Jeff Foust, owner of Liquid Swordz; Victor Swanson, owner of Biggie's Fine Foods; Don Britton & Paul Shemon, owners of Congdon's ACE Hardware; Andrew Muth & Douglas Shapiro, owners of Muth & Shapiro PC; and attorney Steve Jentzen.
Robb explained that the radios are purchased, at cost, by the business owners for $50 for an indoor unit and $99 for an outdoor unit. There is no further cost, such as a monthly subscription rate.
The collective's goal is to have the free access available in all of the downtown area, west to east from the fire station to River Street and north to south from Pearl Street to Ferris Street.
In addition, they want to ensure Depot Town is able to offer the same free Internet access, including in Riverside Park. Eventually, they would like to see the network extend into neighborhoods.
According to Robb, the free access is a draw to bring people to the city.
"Apartment owners can offer this service," he said. "Some already do. It's an attractive perk to living and working in Ypsilanti."
Swanson said the addition of the radio is already being felt in his restaurant, Biggie's Fine Foods, on N. Washington Street.
"We need it," he said. "It brings in more customers. I'm glad to be able to provide this service to the people. It makes the downtown more attractive to them."
The radios being used are manufac-tured by Meraki, a company on the cutting edge of the wireless movement, according to Robb. The company has another free network in San Francisco, California, that currently has gained more than 49,000 users in the past few months.
The system is easy and can be managed from anywhere, according to Robb. The businesses, by buying the radios, take ownership of their part of the network. As of press time, 208 people had already used the network, despite no publicity to alert them to its existence.
"People are ready and willing to get behind the right idea," Robb said, adding that he saw the network as a way of helping to heal some of the divisions within the city.
"This sends the message that Ypsi-lanti gets it," said Pierce. "It is a benefit to businesses, visitors, and residents of downtown. With SPARK coming to Smith Furniture building, Wireless Ypsi makes Ypsilanti more competitive and more desirable when it comes to attracting companies and their employees to our community."
Anyone interested in learning more about Wireless Ypsi may go to the Web site at www.wireless.ypsi.com.
Kathleen Conat is a longtime Ypsilanti resident and freelance writer for The Courier. She can be reached through editor@ypsilanticourier.com.
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
TOP JOBS
