DIA approves $80,000 expansion of public Wi-Fi in Downtown Jacksonville

[thelakelander]

The Downtown Investment Authority passed a resolution at its board meeting Wednesday to spend $80,000 to expand its public Wi-Fi system into the urban core.

The authority appropriated the funds from the Downtown Economic Development fund that's used for projects, programs and activities within the Business Investment and Development Plan. ( Click through the photos to see the priorities laid out in the DIA's plan.)

The authority said the concept for free Wi-Fi access was vetted in the Community Redevelopment Area plans and received favorable feedback from the public, particularly millennials.

Full article: http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2015/03/25/dia-approves-80-000-expansion-of-public-wi-fi-in.html

[jaxlore]

Does anybody know if this is this different then the COJ sites(hemmingplaza, Public, Courthouse, Edball , StJames) wifi spots that already exist?

[coredumped]

I think this would have been cool 10 years ago, but I don't think it's as useful now. Who doesn't have access to a smart phone that would NEED to get on wifi?

[tufsu1]

^ not everyone's smartphone plan has unlimited data.  Mine does, but when abroad, I use free WiFi a lot.

[PeeJayEss]

I think this would have been cool 10 years ago, but I don't think it's as useful now. Who doesn't have access to a smart phone that would NEED to get on wifi?

Would have been super cool 10 years ago. It's still cool today, however.Plus, WIFI is much more scaleable than cell service. In a bustling downtown environment, which Jax may someday be, cell service quality can degrade pretty quickly. And WIFI tech is much better than any cell signal. It just depends greatly on a fast and robust back-end. We will see if COJ has the will to provide that.

[comncense]

"It's not meant to be used by 4,000 or 5,000 people at once."

So I guess this wouldn't be helpful for events such as Georgia / Florida Weekend and events like that.

[spuwho]

"It's not meant to be used by 4,000 or 5,000 people at once."

So I guess this wouldn't be helpful for events such as Georgia / Florida Weekend and events like that.

Stadium wifi has the tailgate crowd covered pretty well. It is designed for 10s of thousands of active connections.

Urban wifi isnt really designed to support outdoor events typically due to the nature of tall buildings and what they do to the signals.

NYC turns on a large mesh at New Years but its not the one thats on year round.