I think it's very cool that our local daily is following our efforts toward an expanded downtown wi-fi network so closely. The P-Herald's Adam Leech filed this update on April 10th. In related news (from the same article), I'm pleased that the Portsmouth Economic Development Council has recommended that the City re-up its partnership with the Chamber. The $35,000 is a relative pittance and could easily be doubled, IMO, but at least this is city money I know is being well-spent.

Earlier in the month (April 2nd), an intro to wi-fi piece by the Other Adam (Dolge)... (Or is Leech the Other Adam?!) finally got inked. I get a mention and a quote, which is always cool. As a point of clarification, in my quote, I was referring specifically to a relatively new phenomenon, wherein so many home users are setting up wi-fi that neighbors are getting knocked off theirs by the interference. I found recently that my trusty old graphite AirPort was simply getting muscled out by the half-dozen other networks I'm privy to here at DSC&A World Headquarters. I finally gave up and went out and got a Belkin (on a great online-only deal from Circuit City) and that seemed to fix my up-again, down-again problems here. To be safe, I also changed the default channel from 11 to 7, and upped the power (minimizing the range) of my new router.

Also in this piece is a mention of the "bill passed in the N.H. House of Representatives would allow municipalities, where Internet connections are not available, to bond money for infrastructure related to the connection." Needless to say, I'm all in favor of such legislation; although it won't really help us here in Portsmouth, there still exists a serious Digital Divide in wide swaths of the Granite State.

Also, for the record, there is no business or organization called "eCoast Technology"; the writer meant to reference the eCoast Technology Roundtable, which I helped to establish in 1999.

And a final clarification, in the list of local hotspots, the Portsmouth Public Library was inadvertently left off. The library's connection has been up and running for well over a year now, thanks in no small part to Exeter-based Single Digits, a value-added/managed hotspot solution provider working on wi-fi in such exotic locales as Mount Washington, Nantucket, Bermuda, Dubai, and, of course, the most exotic of all, Portsmouth, NH.

In my next wi-fi related entry, I hope to give an update on progress we make in the EDC/wi-fi subcommitte meetings. (We're only at the information-gathering stage right now, which doesn't make particularly interesting blog reading!) More soon...