Wireless Web expanding to cover most of C-U

Maybe you can't get online everywhere in Champaign-Urbana – yet – but it's probably accurate to say you're never more than a few blocks from a Wi-Fi access point, usually for free, or at least for the price of a cup of coffee.

Danville has a number of Wi-Fi "hotspots" as well, including outdoors at Temple Plaza downtown and the Danville Public Library.

"There's people here almost every day," said Phill Cohee, the library's assistant director. "It works best on our second floor. That's where the wireless router is located."

If you're a University of Illinois student or staff member, the campus has a program, started in 2004, to cover itself with wireless Internet access, which already is available in areas ranging from Willard Airport in Savoy to the Beckman Institute on the UI's north end.

Beth Scheid, director of communications technologies for the UI's Campus Information Technologies and Educational Services Division, said the university is well along on its goal of providing wireless access in every "public area" of the campus, basically everything that's not a private office. (A lot of offices will be covered collaterally, too.)

"We probably have over a thousand access points installed right now," Scheid said, adding that the number should grow to nearly 2,000 in the next year.

The system, called UIUCnet, works with pretty much any standard Wi-Fi-equipped computer, even hand-held devices. Students need only open a Web browser and enter the network identification and password they receive when they're accepted to the UI.

That lets them use e-mail, most of the Web and other Internet functions, although the UI filters some things for security reasons.

For those who need absolute functionality, the university has licensed virtual private networking software, which can be downloaded at www.cites.uiuc.edu/vpn/index.html. There are versions for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris and some hand-held computers.

A list of access points on campus and a map of the areas covered can be found at www.cites.uiuc.edu/wireless/locations.html.

Scheid and Debbie Fligor, manager of the campus wireless program, said the university also has tested a UI Public Wireless system in some locations. Willard and the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts were two of those when this story was being written.

That system allows members of the public to log in via a Wi-Fi-capable device with a Web browser and do e-mail and the Web after providing some basic registration information and agreeing to the UI's use terms.

In downtown Champaign, local tech company Pavlov Media planned to begin offering free wireless access, including at West Side Park, this summer after an agreement with the city allowing it to place the necessary hardware on traffic lights in the area.

Much of downtown Urbana is covered with a wireless network courtesy of a volunteer effort called the Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network, www.cuwireless.net, which has attracted international attention.

Although it's open and you might pick it up from some spots on the street, however, the effort is more about creating a wireless community computing network to link city residents and to cooperatively share the cost of broadband Internet service among neighbors than about mobile Internet access.

But most local coffee shops, many restaurants and even a lot of bars in the community offer Wi-Fi access points. Here's a list of some spots with free access:

Champaign-Urbana

Aroma Cafe, 118 N. Neil St., C.

Cafe Kopi, 109 N. Walnut St., C.

Caffe Paradiso, 701 S. Lincoln Ave, U.

Merry Ann's Diner, 1 E. Main St., C.

Espresso Royale, 1411 S. Neil St., 602 E. Daniel St. and Village at the Crossing at Windsor and Duncan Roads, all in Champaign, and 1117 W. Oregon St. in Urbana.

Pages for All Ages, 1201 Savoy Plaza Lane, Savoy.

Urbana Free Library, 210 S. Race St., U. (The new Champaign library also is to have it.)

Danville

Danville Public Library, 319 N. Vermilion St.

Royal Donut, 2201 E. Main St.

Temple Plaza, corner of Vermilion and North streets (provided by NexLAN)

The Java Hut, 13 N. Vermillion St.

See the Web sites at www.jiwire.com and www.wififreespot.com to search for other locations, here, around the country and abroad.