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Wireless Ypsi moves into Riverside, Frog Island parks

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

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Downtown Living, Internet, Wireless Technology

Ypsilanti

Parks wouldn't seem like an obvious choice for a wireless hook-up, but it makes perfect sense to the people at Wireless Ypsi. The free-Internet collective has spread into Ypsilanti's Riverside Park and is looking to do the same in Frog Island Park later this month.

"If you're working downtown and want to take a break, it's a great place to go and work," says Steve Pierce, a co-founder of Wireless Ypsi. "It's like being in college and asking the professor, 'Can we go outside today?'"

Pierce adds that a temporary wireless hook-up in the parks last year allowed vendors at the Elvisfest to track a storm and smartly postpone the festival instead of canceling it outright.

Wireless Ypsi is free community-based Internet access system has spread well beyond its original boundaries of downtown Ypsilanti. It now covers points all over Washtenaw and Wayne counties and continues to spread. About 600-800 people a day are logging onto the system.

The initiative was founded by Pierce and Brian Robb, who run it more like a non-profit than a business. They use Meraki technology to supply the free Wi-Fi. The Google-funded start up uses off-white transmitters that look like a child's walkie talkie to connect Internet hot spots at local businesses, institutions and homes. The transmitters use the extra bandwidth from the hot spots to create a mesh-like net of Wi-Fi coverage.

Similar systems are spreading in San Francisco, Pittsburgh and San Diego. More than 250,000 different people have logged onto San Francisco�s Meraki network, which covers large sections of the city and has the goal of reaching every neighborhood.

Source: Steve Pierce, co-founder of Wireless Ypsi
Writer: Jon Zemke