Published: June 16, 2009 08:36 am      

Wireless Internet and pizza

Downtown wireless tested during pizza party

By Samantha Swindler / Managing Editor

Thirty-six people tested their laptops during Corbin Main Street’s free pizza party and wireless Internet event Monday at Vittorino’s Italian Restaurant on Main Street.

The event allowed the city to determine that each wireless access point downtown — of which there will be 30 — can host up to 32 users at one time.

Currently, 12 wireless access points have been activated, and free Internet access can be picked up in Rotary Park and along most of Main Street. Eventually, the Corbin Main Street program will provide free, wireless Internet access to visitors via access points along Main, Depot, Kentucky and Poplar streets to Ninth Street, Rotary Park and the city recreation center.

“It’s been available for probably about two weeks now in different areas and it has expanded,” said Main Street Manager Sharae Myers. “This event here is really just a test event because we really need to have a lot of people on at the same time to see if we have sufficient broadband.”

Because of the 32 user limit in the restaurant, some people were kicked offline during the pizza party — but that shouldn’t happen during everyday use, said Kelly Simpson with Planet Earth PC, which is setting up the wireless system.

“On Main Street alone we have 16 (access points),” he said. “This situation here is never going to occur, but it gives us good data.”

The downtown wireless project cost the city of Corbin about $13,000 for equipment, signage and marketing. The majority of that money went to purchasing and installing the wireless access points throughout downtown, Myers said. NewWave Communications has also partnered with the city to provide $900 of broadband per month for the program at no charge.

“We would not have been able to cover the areas that we are covering if it wasn’t for our partnership with NewWave, which donated the broadband to power the system,” Myers said.

Even though having a large load of users on a single access point kicked a few offline, visitors seemed happy with the program.

“I think it’s really great that we have wireless connections downtown,” said Sarah Pennington, a college student at Bellarmine University, who’s home in Corbin for the summer. “I live most of the year in Louisville and I’m really used to being able to take my computer anywhere, being able to access all my information on the go.”