Kansas City Open-Air Hotspots

Ilus W. Davis Park
Between City Hall and the Federal Courthouse (9th and 11th Streets, Oak and Locust)
802.11b
SSID: Flash Network

I can verify the hotspot is here and that it works. Whether anyone really uses it, however, is anyone's guess. I suppose if someone really wanted to eat lunch al fresco and keep up with his or her e-mail at the same time, he or she could tote both lunch and laptop out of an office building and trudge over here, but wouldn't it just be easier to order in?

Anyone who uses this location care to comment?

By the way, I'm here in the early evening under a light near the northeast corner of the park. The police car down on 10th, the presence of which was so comforting, has just taken off, and so will I very shortly. Since it's dark, I have no idea where the access points and antennas are, or just what the coverage pattern looks like. Anyone who knows is welcome to clue the rest of us in.

Barney Allis Plaza
Between 12th and 13th Streets, Wyandotte and Central

Well, there's supposed to be an open public hotspot here, but the only unencrypted networks I saw during a nighttime visit (except for a pair of "unsecured computer-to-computer networks" as Windows described them; someone needs to start packing a crossover cable when they travel!) were the ones belonging to the adjacent Mariott Hotel, which appear to be play-for-pay. Has the hotspot gone by the wayside from disuse (understandable since it's not surrounded by office and government buildings like the park is), is its operation temporarily suspended because of the construction work underway at the plaza, or is it only turned on during business or daylight hours? Anyone know?