by David Chapman
Staff Writer
Several Downtown restaurants are offering it, but you won’t find it on the menu. It’s in Hemming Plaza, the Federal Courthouse, the Jacksonville Landing and even in the middle of Main, Forsyth and Laura streets — but you can’t see it.
It’s Downtown Wi-Fi – the wireless networking technology used by computers to connect remotely to the Internet – and it’s everywhere in the area in some form. But finding the area’s ripest (and most cost effective) hot spots can take time.
One of Downtown’s largest Wi-Fi signals comes from the Main Library, which also enables merchants and people in surrounding businesses around Hemming Plaza to piggyback off the signal.
“I come here (Main Library) and use it all the time,” said Latita Drinkard, a Florida Community College at Jacksonville Downtown campus student. “It’s fast and helpful with school and employment in between classes and even days I don’t have school.”
The Jacksonville Landing also provides free Wi-Fi in its courtyards, food courts and public areas and recently entered a partnership with Clearwire to increase signal reliability and effectiveness, said Rachel Nudge, Landing director of public relations.
The signal overlaps into some of the Landing’s tenants, but it’s not a big concern, she said.
“They are responsible for their own connections, but if our connection overlaps, we’re not going to exactly go after them or anything,” she said.
With the rise of roaming signals from wireless devices can come interference, though,
“My phone is constantly picking up signals from people who walk by with Bluetooth technology,” said Mike Leegstra, a worker at the Landing Bookstore and Newsstand.
Finding a reliable source outside dedicated free connections provided by businesses can be a chore, often times fleeting.
The lobby of the Modis building, outside the Landing’s signal area, picked up almost two dozen protected, unreliable, and sporadic signals from area vendors, wireless technologies and dedicated signals – leaving those looking to piggyback a signal, even for a brief time, out of luck.
Some area businesses, such as Starbucks at both the Landing and inside 11E, currently provide Wi-Fi access for $9.99 a day through T-Mobile. That pricing plan could only be for the short-term, though, as the coffee giant announced plans in February to switch providers to AT&T and change pricing plans. The change is coming on a market-by-market basis, but could change the pricing plan, according to a company press release.
Still, a working lunch outside the office can be free and reliable, as many restaurants are now offering free Wi-Fi for customers.
One such restaurant is Nicky G’s Brick Oven Pizza on Bay Street, which started offering the service several months ago.
“We got a lot of questions about it when we first offered it,” said Zacgary Conner, a worker at the restaurant. “You see people come in here with computers sometimes, but not as often as in the past.”