Well, if you're going to Raytown anyway-

City Grounds
6200 Raytown Trafficway, Raytown

802.11g
SSID: City Grounds Coffee Shop

I took the long way back from Lee's Summit just to finally give myself a chance to check this location out. There are at least a couple of tables by power outlets, but the place is rather small so plugging in might be a problem if it's crowded. Also, it closes rather early for a coffee shop-7 p. m. On the plus side, the windows are narrow and have blinds, so I'd guess that LCD readability wouldn't be a problem in the daytime.

And the last one...

...is one I really needn't have bothered with.


Atlanta Bread Company in Lee's Summit now has WEP encryption on their wireless network, meaning the location-regardless of whether access is still free-is beyond this blog's scope. So I can't tell you whether you'd have a better experience there than I did a few months ago. Too bad.

Two down, one to go.

You can knock the Town Pavilion off the "Gee, I wonder if I'll fare any better there now that my laptop's Wi-Fi antenna is fixed?" list. The signal is still too low in my opinion, but I'm not getting repeatedly knocked off as I did during my last visit. Unfortunately, there are still too few power outlets and too many other unsecured networks to make for a totally pleasant experience. I think I'd only bother with this place for a quick lunch or something similar-which is probably what the management has in mind.

And are they ever going to lose that stupid login page?

As promised...

...I've just made my first return trip to a location where I'd experienced signal strength problems before fixing my laptop's antenna. Sure enough, I'm showing all five bars and an "Excellent" strength rating at the Plaza Library. If memory serves, the only other places I really bombed out at were the Town Pavilion downtown (although I still think the problems there were on their end, since I didn't have trouble at the coffeehouse across the street) and the Atlanta Bread Company cafe in Lee's Summit. It'll be a while, but just to be fair I'll try and hit both again in the coming weeks.

Mea culpa, and a couple of other things.

As you may have noticed, lately I've tended to report problems with low signal strength at most of the sites I've recently visited. When I realized I was seeing them at more and more locations where they had never been a problem before, I began to suspect the problem might lie a bit closer to home-to wit, with my aging laptop computer rather than with the networks themselves. That suspicion grew to a near-certainty when I started seeing only one or two bars from my home access point in the next room.


Well, I was right.


One of the antenna wires on my built-in Wi-Fi adapter had chafed and come in two, and after jury-rigging a quick repair, I'm happy to report that I'm now receiving the expected "excellent" signal strength rating at home. So...assuming the laptop holds out long enough (as you might expect, it's long out of warranty and has more of its days behind it than ahead, and it wasn't in the best shape even before my amateur surgery), I'll try to make a return trip soon to as many of the locations where I've had trouble lately as I can, and report the results here.


And while I'm here, a little more about AT&T's free access between now and Christmas. First of all, the offer isn't valid at any McDonald's restaurants. Sorry for forgetting to mention that. Second, I made a second trip to the Mid Continent Public Library's Blue Springs South branch, and while there are a few available power outlets against the back wall (look under the windows; there are also chairs and at least one table adjacent to them), I didn't get enough signal there to stay reliably connected even with my USB adapter connected via an extension cable, which leads me to believe that a return visit with my newly repaired laptop wouldn't be particularly fruitful. If, however, you're going there anyway and don't plan to stay any longer than you can work on battery power at the tables up front, it might be worth toting your laptop along.


And while once again I stress that play-for-pay is really off-topic here, I feel I've got to comment on something. In addition to the library, I stopped at a bookstore with an AT&T hotspot hoping to perhaps cool my heels in the cafe for a bit and use the coupon code to check for any updates to my anti-malware programs while bringing my battery back up to full charge. Well, I could have settled for two out of three if I'd wanted to; there were no power outlets anywhere-not just in the cafe, but anywhere else in the store, as far as I could see. Now isn't that just ducky? Pay $8 a day for Wi-Fi, and only get to use it for as long as your battery lasts!

I can understand a free hotspot-particularly one that would be hurt by large numbers of "campers"-wanting to turn customers over by making them go battery-only, but if you're play-for-pay you don't have that excuse. You're partnering with someone who's taking money in return for something, and you have a shared responsibility with that partner to deliver it.

And speaking of that partner...shouldn't someone at AT&T be looking into this?

Maybe I shouldn't mention this...

...but it appears that all of AT&T's play-for-pay locations are free from now through the end of the year.

I discovered this by searching for new free Wi-Fi locations at jiwire.com. They're listing all of the AT&T sites now with a link below the AT&T logo that takes you to a page with a coupon code. As far as I can tell, the code is the same for all of their locations, but I've only actually tried it at one local hotspot-the Blue Springs South branch of the Mid-Continent Public Library. It worked, but this particular location really doesn't have much to recommend it as a hotspot. Signal strength wasn't all that great, and there appear to be absolutely no available power outlets anywhere.

Again, I'm no fan of play-for-pay...but if some of these locations-particularly businesses-should see a sharp spike in patronage from computer-toting customers between now and Christmas, there's a chance that maybe, just maybe, whoever's running them will be inclined to ask why.

A few changes worthy of note at the KCMO Library

Looks like they've changed filter vendors, and although whatever they're using now still tends to overblock (and do so in broad categories rather than narrowly define which of CIPA's proscriptions-obscenity, child porn, or access by minors of material harmful to them-the filter suspects the desired site runs afoul of), they've taken some of my recommendations of a year ago to heart and instituted an online site review process. Not only that, but it looks like someone is actually doing something about the overblock complaints. I tried submitting one anonymously for one of my test URLs and found it unblocked about a week later. Also, there's a prompt on the blockpage for a username and password to bypass the filter. Whether this is intended for use by patrons providing their own equipment, or how one would go about obtaining the necessary credentials I can't say. (A suggestion for the library administration if I might: What would be wrong with letting the patron decide whether or not to filter by authorizing his or her library card to activate the bypass? Didn't the Supreme Court rule that adults had the right to make this choice? I could be wrong, but I think they did. Think it over, folks. You have to know what people are doing now. Give them an option that respects them as adults, and maybe they won't resort to that other one.)

Unfortunately, the changes haven't all been for the better. I've had a lot of trouble lately getting and staying connected at the Plaza branch, and I suspect it's on the library's end as opposed to mine because I'm not seeing problems like this anywhere else. Also, if there are still any of you who favor plugging in as opposed to going wireless, you should know that at the downtown library, the hotjacks the tables in the third-floor reading room are equipped with are now really that-jacks. You'll have to bring your own Cat 5 cable if you want to use them; the retractable cables that used to be attached to them are gone.

I know I promised I wouldn't do this, but...

McDonald's
10995 Metcalf, Overland Park

802.11g
SSID: 10995MetcalfMcD

Had to stop off for dinner on the way to putting in some offsite overtime, so I thought I'd give this place another shot. The good news is that it's working now (although the bandwidth fluctuates rather widely for some reason; I've seen speeds from 24 to 54 mbps). The bad news is that as far as I can tell, there's only one set of power outlets-in the far right-hand corner as you look to the front from the counter. Also, these big windows aren't helping me read my LCD late in the afternoon.

That aside, it's still gratifying that this location didn't go the route of its Kansas Speedway counterpart. Here's hoping it'll continue the trend and become more laptop-friendly soon.

Happy birthday to...

No score and one year ago, my father's offspring brought forth upon this continent a new blog, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all local free wireless Internet access locations are not created equal...


Oh, enough of that! I just hope that you've found the fruits of my efforts here this past year helpful-and as much fun to read as it's been to create.

And with that, our quest continues.

Sorry, I'm going to have to ask for the gold star back.

Dropped in at the Plaza Library over the weekend, and it looks like reports of the death of filter overblocking on the KCMO Library's Wi-Fi were maybe a bit exaggerated. In addition, the signal strength was the worst I've ever seen there. My speed dropped to as low as 2 mbps. Not good when you're trying to download one of the digital audiobooks they now offer.

Remembrance

Not long ago I came across the box and sales receipt for the first piece of wireless networking hardware I ever bought. It's an 802.11b PCMCIA card that I still have but hardly ever use anymore, its having been supplanted by 802.11g and laptops with built-in wireless capability. Finding that receipt, however, led me into thinking back to the beginnings of my interest in all this-and contemplation of much more.

All that summer, I'd been gleaning everything I could from the Web about this strange new thing called Wi-Fi by some, intrigued by the possibility of accessing the Internet away from home without having to find a phone line-indeed, without resorting to wires at all. The prospect of going online in a library without having to sign up to use one of their computers-or leave a convenient seat near the bookshelves or microfilm machine to do so-was of particular interest. I couldn't help but wonder how long it would be before any of metropolitan Kansas City's public libraries would have this. Reading about what was happening on both coasts was fascinating; how soon would it be before there were local coffeehouses or other establishments offering free Internet without wires? And would a volunteer group arise here in the metro, as had one in New York City, for instance, to make a quixotic effort to unwire the entire community? One soon did, listing what it said were numerous locations open to anyone with a wirelessly enabled laptop.

Which explains why, when one of the big-box electronics retailers advertised that card one Sunday for a jaw-dropping $80, less a mail-in rebate as I recall, I went there straight after work the following afternoon. Right there in the parking lot after the purchase I pulled my two-month old laptop out of the trunk and fired it up to install the card and its drivers, so eager was I just to see if it would pick anything up. It didn't. Undaunted, I drove home with the laptop running on the seat beside me ("wardrivng" at that time had not yet earned its now well-deserved disrepute), but it didn't find anything then either. Once home, I went online to find and print out the listings of all the local sites where free Wi-Fi was said to be available, to take with me in the morning as a guide for a planned expedition after work.

I would leave work many hours early the next day, but I would not take that side trip-not then, and not for a very long time. Indeed, in the weeks and months afterward, I sometimes wondered if anything as trivial as wireless Internet would ever matter again. And to this very day I shudder at the memory of how the world changed so much in the course of only a couple of hours that next morning, every time I think of the date on that receipt.

You see, I bought that wireless card exactly five years ago yesterday, on September 10, 2001.

Give me strength...

Atlanta Bread Company
1686 N. W. Chipman Road (one block east of Buffalo Wild Wings), Lee's Summit

802.11g
SSID: Atlanta Bread Co.

Three words-low signal strength.

I've got to wonder whether some hotspot operators ever try using their own networks. All of them should, because in some cases, it can be a very enlightening experience. For instance, why else would this location's signal strength be worst precisely where the only two sets of power outlets in the building are-along the west wall adjacent to the patio? And frankly, I'm not finding anywhere else that it's particularly good, either.

Indeed, if your laptop's only so-so as far as its wireless reception qualities are concerned, I'd pass on this one-at least without a USB adapter to save your bacon, as mine is doing right now.

Update: Just as I was getting ready to leave, the manager happened by and asked how I was faring. When I told (and showed) him, he disappeared into the kitchen to try and "tweak it a little bit," as he put it. I didn't see any change by the time I did leave, but management is now aware of the problem. Should any of you happen by and find things better than I did, please don't hesitate to let us know.

Wirelessly winging it on the wild side

Buffalo Wild Wings Grill and Bar
1806 NW Chipman Road (north side of Chipman, two blocks west of U. S. 50), Lee's Summit

802.11g
SSID: harborlink

Surprisingly, although increasing numbers of these franchise operations are showing up in Wi-Fi directories all over, it appears no one's bothered to check out any of metro KC's five locations (the others are in Raytown, Independence, Overland Park and Olathe). Well, at least this one's unwired.

Bring at least one fully-charged battery with you, because there aren't any power outlets to be had as far as I can see. Signal strength is also rather on the low side (it's got me throttled down to 36 MBPS right now), and because there's an acceptable use policy page you've got to click through to get onto the 'Net, disconnecting due to signal loss can become a bit frustrating. (And if anyone on the network administration side at this outfit is reading this, your network really needs to lose its extremely annoying habit of taking users back to your homepage at inopportune moments. Take it from one of those users-that gets very old very fast.)

On the plus side, the shaded windows make for a very LCD-friendly lighting situation.

Has Flash Network bitten the big one?

One can't help but wonder, given that their website is apparently kaput and none of the access points broadcasting their SSID that I've run across lately seem to be working. That includes those that used to provide connectivity for the free open-air hotspot at Ilus Davis Park downtown, where I headed after leaving Scooter's.

Anyone know for sure?

Now THIS is more like it!

Scooter's Coffeehouse
929 Walnut, Kansas City

802.11g
SSID: Linksys

Okay, I know-comparing this place with a skyscraper like the Town Pavilion is apples and oranges in the extreme, although there's nothing wrong with the bigger venue that a few well-placed repeaters and a little more attention to detail won't fix. Anyway, you shouldn't have problems finding a seat next to a power outlet here unless the joint's really crowded. There's even a padded bench beside a row of tables along the 10th Street side that has a couple of outlets on the front. My only concern is how dark this room would be in broad daylight (I'm here at about dusk) because I don't see any shades on any of these rather large windows. Then again, with all these tall buildings around, I might be anticipating a problem where there isn't one. Should any of you happen by earlier in the day sometime, feel free to let us know how you make out in this regard.

And I'm still waiting to hear if any of Scooter's other locations around town are lit up.

Afraid this one still needs a little work.

Town Pavilion
12th and Main, Kansas City

802.11g
SSID: TownPavilion

Well, where do I start? Oh, I don't know. How about the lousy signal strength? My built-in adapter isn't detecting a signal at all, and my USB finder/adapter is hanging onto it just barely enough to allow me to post this. Sitting in the third-floor food court, I'm poking along at a miserable 12 MBPS. Let's make that the north end of the food court; should you venture to the other end in search of one of the few power outlets in evidence, you'll probably lose the signal entirely, like I did.

And if anyone responsible for managing this network should happen across this, you really need to lose that unencrypted, nonfunctional login page. How is someone supposed to know they're just supposed to click through it without putting anything in (unless, of course, you're expecting them to be smart enough to know better than to enter sensitive data on a non-SSL protected page over an open wireless link, and thus deduce that the page has to be a dummy)? Better to just take them to your homepage to start with rather than confuse or alarm them unnecessarily.

One more thing: You and the landlord here really ought to get with your tenants and impress upon them the importance of securing their access points, lest someone who doesn't know an SSID from Shinola should happen along and hook up with them instead of you. Or perhaps I'm mistaken and all those open networks are really yours. If so, then here's a rule you and the nice folks out at the Johnson County Library should learn and live by: One network-one SSID. Makes life easier all around. Trust me.

Well, I'd better stop now. Just had to reconnect for the third time. I really hope these problems are just growing pains, and this location gets better with time.

Hmmm...

...it seems that maybe the trend against library-filter overblocking is catching on around here.

I stopped in at KCMO's Southeast branch today and tried the most problematic of my overblocking test URLs, and it came right up. Granted, KCMO's Bess installation never went to the ridiculous extremes Johnson County did with their DansGuardian, but the fewer overblocks that get in your way, the better as far as I'm concerned.

One sad note, though. There's a lady here who's perhaps my age, equipped with a fairly nice Toshiba of recent vintage, who's deathly afraid of putting it out onto the 'Net. Nothing I can say will convince her that not only will she get more out of her laptop and whatever she's trying to do on it by going online, but it'll be better able to protect itself from malware and other threats if she'll just give it access to what it needs to do that.

I don't know which is more disheartening-her or another laptop user who's just arrived and gone through the ritual of pulling out her trusty old HP and plugging in (we're at the table near the back with the four power outlets in the floor next to it), only to announce that she needs to go across the street to vote, and ask me if I'll stand guard over her rig while she does!

At any rate, it's really nice to know that this long-awaited hotspot is starting to draw a crowd.

AGAIN!!!

I finally got a chance this afternoon to check out the Harry's Mug Coffee Bar on Blue Ridge Boulevard in Grandview, a location that has long been listed on wififreespot, but it turns out I needn't have bothered. There wasn't even a signal from an open access point. The counter attendant, a poster child for today's disaffected youth, acknowledged after a little prodding that the connection hadn't been available for maybe a couple of weeks-and when I inquired as to whether or when it would be again, it became apparent that he wasn't the only disaffected person in the chain of command.

You know, I've got half a mind to turn them in to wififreespot for removal, but I think I'll wait a bit. Maybe someone there will see this and decide that the disaffected approach isn't working. I hope so.

And while we're on the subject of the Northland...

...could anyone affiliated with the North Kansas City Public Library explain why you haven't unwired?


You've got a nearly new building complete with tables that were clearly designed for laptop use-they're already equipped with cutouts that will facilitate wiring them for power. On top of that, you're in an obviously underserved community. I can't think of any other hotspots in NKC. Can you?



What's stopping you, folks?

The not-so-frozen North

The Power Plant Brewery and Restaurant
Two Main Street, Parkville

802.11g
SSID: PowerPlant

Our first successful foray into the Northland (after a stop at one coffeehouse listed in several directories that actually has an encrypted network) is this cozy place, which, as its name implies, is ensconced in Park College's old power station. Given that it's a bar/restaurant, you really can't expect it to offer much in the way of laptop-friendliness, so the apparent lack of power outlets shouldn't come as a surprise. Well, it is dark enough inside at two in the afternoon to make LCD reading a breeze.

And yes, I know, Park College has been Park University since who knows when, but the building still reads "college" and no one's seen fit to change it.

Kansas City International Airport

802.11b at location visited (Terminal B concourse adjacent to Gate 50)
SSID: kci

Airports, of course, are like a character in Franz Lehar's The Merry Widow described Albania-a place where you go on business or not at all. Anyway, I decided that for the benefit of any of you who'll be cooling your heels there-the airport, not Albania-anytime soon, I'd invest the cost of maybe an hour's parking to check it out. Good that I did, because you need to be aware that if what I'm seeing here is any indication, this network's performance leaves a bit to be desired.

First of all, why is it still "b" and not "g?" That would possibly help matters a bit if you run into the low signal strength levels I'm seeing here. Also, there's apparently some kind of clickthrough page that appears to be Windows-only (i.e., written for Internet Explorer instead of being standards-compliant). Firefox pulled it up, but didn't display any text or graphics, so it beats me as to exactly what it was I agreed to. Well, they let me leave, so I guess it couldn't have been anything of substance.

Next stop was Zona Rosa at Barry Road and I-29, and the local guides that still list it appear to be giving us a bum steer as far as center-wide free wireless is concerned. Although several Flash Network SSIDs presented themselves, none of them provided me with an IP address. I've also noticed that any mention of free wireless has apparently vanished from Zona Rosa's website. However, there's at least one establishment here that has stepped forward to try and fill the gap.

O'Dowd's Little Dublin
8600 N.W. Prarie View Road

802.11b
SSID: ODowds

I had a devil of a time getting and staying connected, but I think this may be due to a problem cropping up with my built-in wireless card as opposed to the network itself. I've just plugged in my USB finder/adapter and it's connecting at the full 11 MBPS as opposed to 1 for the built-in. Connectivity beyond the access point, however, is still at a crawl. Anyway, the place is a standard bar/restaurant, so take that as an indication of its laptop-friendliness, or lack thereof.

Incidentally, for those of you perhaps new to Kansas City, Zona Rosa is not "very close to the airport" as some local listings erroneously describe it. KCI is still a good ten-to-fifteen-minute drive away under the best of conditions. Add rush-hour traffic on I-29 and things will go downhill from there. Just in case you were planning on a quick shopping stop before catching a flight.


From here, I initially headed over to North Oak to check out a couple of reported hotspots around Northeast 78th Street. One of them, The Perfect Cup, is sadly no more. Another looked like it was going to be crowded, and I really wasn't sure of its nature, so I decided to save it for later and instead head north to look at an outlying location I didn't have time to hit earlier today. Glad I did-it verified the problem at O'Dowd's was with their network, not my card.

Neighbors Internet Cafe
101A Smithville Plaza (east side of U. S. 169, just north of Route DD), Smithville

802.11g
SSID: Neighbors

How an establishment with a single desktop computer can get away with calling itself an "Internet cafe" is a bit beyond me, but the Wi-Fi is free, open and fast, so I won't argue. They don't make a half-bad chocolate malted, either. I should point out that the place seems rather religiously inspired, in case that's a concern for any of you, but if the connection is filtered, you shouldn't have problems with overblocks, because I didn't. There's a little alcove towards the back with at least one table next to a power outlet. And if you don't like surfing to live music, be forewarned that this is such a venue.

And so is that other North Oak location I went back to once more after leaving Neighbors. I decided to pass on it, however, after finding the parking lot still packed-and discovering they were taking full advantage by charging a $7 cover. Even at today's prices, stiffing teens for that much strikes me as somewhat exploitative, even if it is to provide them with a safe non-alcoholic environment. Indeed, that would seem all the more reason not to gouge them, if you ask me.

Maybe I'll go back and check this location out later; maybe I won't. Time will tell.

You know, I think it's getting to be an epidemic.

Another long drive to a McDonald's today-this time for lunch-and another failed attempt to get onto the Internet through their free wireless connection. This one, recently announced on wififreespot and proudly trumpeted with signs advertising the hotspot at its front door, is at 10995 Metcalf in Overland Park. Same problem as with the erstwhile free offering at the McDonalds across from the Kansas Speedway, and at Mesa Wraps in Westport-no backhaul once you connect to the access point. And the reaction of an employee once I let the manager know gave me the feeling that this wasn't just a one-time occurrence. He immediately pointed to a ceiling tile, telling his boss he'd have to remove it to gain access to the router. The manager, however, gave me the standard response-"I'll call it in again"-I heard out by the speedway back in March. Well, at least he didn't totally blow it off like they did at Mesa Wraps.

I really hope this doesn't become a trend. Hey all you managers and other entrepreneurs out there, listen up: If you want free Wi-Fi to pay off for you, you've got to deliver what you promise. If that means rolling up your sleeves and climbing a ladder to restart a router or modem, get the ladder out and get after it. And if it means going out and buying better quality equipment because your bargain-basement router isn't cutting the mustard, well, that'll probably mean fewer trips up that ladder. And if it means getting tough with a vendor whose expertise and level of service aren't up to snuff-even to the point of showing them the door-do it. One would hope you wouldn't be so cavalier towards anything else detracting from the customer experience you offer.

Once more, since gas hasn't gotten any cheaper since March, I'll leave a full evaluation of this one to one of you. The access point is 802.11g, broadcasting a SSID of 10995MetcalfMcD. Here's hoping you have better luck than I did.

Am I imagining things...

...or is the Johnson County Library's Wi-Fi actually getting better, albeit only slightly?


I stopped in at the Corinth branch today to return a CD and decided while I was there to fire up the laptop to see if there'd been any change in the last few months. Lo and behold, one of the websites I use to gauge the degree of overblocking a user might find on a filtered connection is coming straight through. (Never mind what the URL is; that's for me to know and those whose locations I may evaluate in the future to worry about. I will tell you this, however; it is NOT a pornsite, and neither are any of the others I employ for this purpose.) Not only that, but some of the dumber things this network's filtering used to do seem to have fallen by the wayside.

And while I'm at it, I need to make a bit of a clarification and perhaps offer an apology to the library for something I wrote last March. I laid my inability to access some features on TV Guide's website to the library's filter, and this may not have been the case. Although i did get the blockpage message in the online listings grid, I later found out that the grid was having problems at that time displaying properly in certain browsers-Firefox, which I use exclusively on the Web, among them. Anyway, the site, which TV Guide has only recently fixed, now works perfectly with no blocking messages.

That said, however, I'm still a bit miffed that JCL is continuing to block access to Usenet, and Spybot users should continue to limit their use of this network, since you still can't update Spybot on it. Hope springs eternal, though. Maybe what I'm sure were a legion of complaints over that nonsensical filtering finally started to have an effect. If we keep at it over these other issues, we could get where we need to with this thing.

By the way, Corinth was the one unwired JCL location I hadn't visited since they were lit up. And I'm sorry, but I've got to start beating up on these nice folks again. This is easily the most laptop-unfriendly library I've been in with the possible exception of KCMO's Sugar Creek branch. When I say there are absolutely no power outlets to be had, I mean it. I'm already on my second battery, so don't come without a spare. Also, pay attention to the access point you connect to. (Memo to JCL's IT director: SSIDs are case-sensitive, or did you know that? Also, if you can give me one good reason why you need more than one, I'd love to share it with my readers. I wonder if you have any idea how much frustration this causes someone moving between locations?) There are two, wireless.jocolibrary and wireless.jocolibrary2. The second one doesn't work for some reason.

And one final update: The filter seems to be getting a little smarter, but it's still dumb. No sooner did I get this post up than I ran into another of the same silly overblocks for which this network is notorious, replete with one of the hopelessly geeky explanations that makes DansGuardian so endearing. Maybe all this is just wishful thinking on my part.

It's not April 1 again, is it?

Kansas City Business Journal
KCI offers free Wi-Fi

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2006/06/26/daily22.html?from_rss=1

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this would make KCI the biggest airport in the country that isn't play-for-pay, woudn't it?

The last domino falls

Two days before they promised, the Kansas City Public Library has proudly announced that the Great Unwiring is finished, and all of its locations now have wireless Internet access.

Since I visited the Sugar Creek branch only a week ago, I'll take their word for it. Make sure you charge your laptop's battery before paying them a visit. I don't recall seeing a single power outlet anywhere.

Gentlemen, start your...

Now that we finally have at least a couple of hotspots in the most underserved of Kansas City, Missouri's neighborhoods-even if they're only available part of the time and provide only partial Internet access at that-I felt it was time once more for us to cast our eyes westward and see how things are coming along in that other void-Wyandotte County. Sadly, at least in the eastern part, they aren't coming along too well. I stopped in at both the main and West Wyandotte branches of the KCK Public Library to see if the Wi-Fi bug had perhaps bitten yet. At the main location my finder was greeted by only a few encryption-secured access points. (Memo to the library and school district IT departments: If you don't want someone a little less conscientious than me coming around to try and break into these networks, you might start thinking about upgrading your encryption and for heaven's sake, hiding those SSIDs!) West Wyandotte, however, was as cold as a tomb as far as detectable wireless activity was concerned. (Another memo to the aforementioned IT departments: If you do have a wireless network at West Wyandotte for staff use only, that's how it should look to an outsider.)

As I've mentioned before, I think the best thing that could happen to jumpstart public Wi-Fi throughout Wyandotte County would be for the library to take the lead, unwiring at least West Wyandotte if not the main location as well. The West Wyandotte building is only two decades old; one is tempted to ask why it isn't lit up already. Frankly, though, the library system is so far behind the Wi-Fi curve and the need in its community so great, that I feel they really ought to just go whole hog and unwire all three of their locations. A city as big as Kansas City, Kansas with no wireless access in its libraries is rapidly becoming an anachronism.

And I'm sorry to report that upon venturing further west, I was able to confirm that the McDonald's restaurant in the Legends Shopping Center at 106th and Parallel has indeed thrown in the towel on its free access and become a Wayport/AT&T play-for-pay outlet. So...since I was already in the neighborhood, I decided to check out the other reports of this strange phenomenon called free and open Wi-Fi in the vicinity of the Kansas Speedway, and do you know what? They're true-or at least two of them are.

Yard House Restaurant
1863 Village West Parkway (Suite 101)

802.11g
SSID: 101

In the interest of journalistic integrity, I have to admit that I didn't access this network from here. I did perform a walk-through of the building and asked a staff member to verify that this was their access point, and then moved on in search of other signals. I managed to find one emanating from a nearby establishment, but it wasn't free and open as those terms have been defined here (more on that later). Anyway, ol' 101 came banging through over there just fine-in fact, my finder also detected it at the nearby Cold Stone Creamery, which may have been the impetus for reports of Wi-Fi there.

As for the restaurant itself, it didn't look too laptop-friendly, but hey, what do you expect? It is a restaurant, after all. They do have an outdoor patio that may be a bit more conducive to your online experience, unless it's as hot out as it was today.

Scooter's Coffeehouse
Suite 103

802.11g
SSID: NETGEAR

From whence the erroneous reports of Wi-Fi at the nearby Planet Sub came. And upon looking around to spot the access point once I arrived at Scooter's it became obvious why. It's apparently mounted high up over a ceiling beam maybe fifteen feet off the floor. There's a blue wire that looks suspiciously like an Ethernet cable that comes out of a wall and snakes up above the beam, where it disappears. Fortunately, the height doesn't seem to adversely affect reception at floor level.

Power outlets? Look to the left as you come in and hope there's no one sitting by the pair on the wall where one of the refrigerators is plugged in-and that there's nothing plugged into the other outlet. And at least this outfit appears to have been in business long enough to know that pulling the shades on those big front windows can sometimes be an act of kindness to a laptop user.

Incidentally, Scooter's has other locations in Shawnee and Overland Park. The chain's website is mum on Wi-Fi issues, so finding out whether they're lit up as well is, for now, left to the reader as an exercise.

Now, about those other signals. There are at least a couple of restaurants in and around the Legends/Village West development with unencrypted access points, but connecting to them and trying to get onto the 'Net brings you to a page requesting a login and password. Whether these are play-for-pay, restricted to paying customers or not intended for public use at all I can't say since I didn't pursue the matter once I was challenged for credentials. Such locations are beyond the scope of this blog, so you're on your own if you want to find out more. Be forewarned, however, that both of these I saw are apparently trying to protect their login pages with self-signed certificates. Personally, I wouldn't touch a network set up like that with gloves on, because by accepting a self-signed certificate you could be setting yourself up for a man-in-the-middle attack.

And if I can have the attention of the management at Books-a-Million in Suite 135 at the Legends for a moment: Want to know how you can differentiate yourself from Those Other Two Giant Discount Bookstore Chains? Easy-light your dadburned stores up with Wi-Fi, only do Borders and Barnes & Noble one better and GIVE YOURS AWAY! You've got all the amenities the other guys have-a coffee bar, plush chairs all around conveniently next to power outlets, the whole nine yards. Why not set yourselves apart and give people a reason to spurn your competitors' more convenient Plaza and Johnson County locations and come out of their way to patronize yours? It's not like they don't need one. Have you checked out the price of gasoline lately?

This is the kind of forward-looking thinking needed to make what's going on in western Wyandotte County pay off in the end. Let's all hope it catches on and continues to spread-especially towards the east, where it is still so sorely lacking.

And then there was one...

Kansas City Public Library, Lucile H. Bluford Branch
3050 Prospect, Kansas City

802.11g
SSID: library

Looks like I'm going to lose the bet that the KCMO Library wouldn't make its self-imposed deadline to finish unwiring. I just came here from Sugar Creek, and it appears that all they have left to do there is hook up the backhaul (if they haven't already) and rename the access point. (After all my warnings to others not to do it, I just couldn't bring myself to boot up and see if the wide-open AP showing a default SSID was connected to anything; with my luck, the darn thing would have turned out to belong to someone else.)

And I'm not the only one glad that I lost. Upon arriving here at Bluford and discovering to my joy that it was finally lit up, I immediately began a frantic search for available power outlets, and found the most available one already spoken for by an iBook user. See, I told you they needed to do this place first!

As for that most available power outlet-a pair of them, actually-they're under a table with a magazine rack on it towards the back under the skylight and near the back windows. If you're the paranoid sort, there's a surge-protected outlet built into the table's upper left corner (you'll have to crawl underneath and plug the extension cord running from it into the wall outlet if you want to use it). There's another dual wall outlet to the right of the windows between a pair of paperback racks, but you'll have to be adventurous enough to move a chair over to it. I don't see any floor outlets anywhere, so charging up beforehand is definitely advisable. And I'm really not sure I'd want to try this location at midday with a high sun streaming down through that skylight unless I had enough battery power to sit somewhere darker for maybe an hour or two.

Which brings me to my next topic. Now that we've got (or soon will have) all the library locations unwired, let's get to work on making the outlying branches a bit more laptop-friendly. I think that for starters there ought to be at least one table at each of the neighborhood branches with enough power outlets to accomodate four users at a time. If saving floor space at some of these locations is a concern, someone might go take a look at the Information Commons in the Miller Nichols Library on the UMKC campus and see if the kind of furniture they employed is still available anywhere. Granted, they had the additional problem of providing hardwired network access along with power, but I think a table such as theirs in each branch, placed in an area where daytime lighting is conducive to LCD readability, would fill the bill nicely.

I guess someone downtown IS reading this!

Kansas City Public Library, Southeast Branch
6242 Swope Parkway, Kansas City

802.11g
SSID: library

Well, what do you know? No sooner do I carp on the KCMO Library leaving its two neediest locations for last than I drop in at one of them and find it lit up.

All the standard caveats for the other KC Library locations besides Central and Plaza apply here, so if you absolutely have to plug in you'll have to be adventurous. The building, as I recall, is of the same vintage as the Trails West branch I profiled a few weeks back, so power outlets are about as scarce. There's a table towards the back under the very LCD-unfriendly skylight that has four outlets under a hinged door in the floor. I'm currently plugged into one of them and no one's taken exception as of yet. There's a row of three green chairs along the wall to the left of the windows; the middle one has a pair of outlets behind it, as does the single chair to the right of the windows. Don't bother with the carrels on the other table. They aren't wired.

And my finder detected four access points, so signal strength shouldn't be an issue.

Wireless in Westport, Chapter 2

Tea Drops
4111 Pennsylvania, Kansas City

802.11b
SSID: linksys

As I related a few weeks back, I developed a fondness for this place, its having been one of the first businesses in KC to unwire for free. Therefore I felt they deserved a second chance. On this visit they didn't disappoint, at least as far as the availability of their network is concerned. However, I've got to tell you that this is one place where you don't want to forget to bring a charged battery. Not a single usable power outlet in sight. Also, it's got those lovable big windows that can make daytime LCD reading a challenge, at least until your eyes adapt.

One more thing. Don't be a dork like I did and bring an iPod filled with Haydn along, thinking you'll sit quietly enjoying a symphony while surfing. Poor ol' Franz Joseph will lose out to their recorded music every time.

After finishing my tea, I felt it was only fair to give the other hotspot that didn't come through last month another shot, but unfortunately Mesa Wraps across the street still hadn't gotten around to restoring their Internet connectivity. And from what the counterman there told me, it doesn't seem as if they plan to, either. Looks like this one should come off the local free hotspot listings. However, if someone higher up at Mesa Wraps should read this and beg to differ, here's a tip: If you have a DSL or cable modem plugged into your access point/router to provide your backhaul, try rebooting it by cycling its power off and back on. Also go into your router's configuration and make sure it's still set up with your ISP account's username and password. If you've had an extended power outage or if someone has reset the router, these may have disappeared.

Another location that definitely should come off the local listings on which it still appears is what used to be Yummy's Market and Deli at 1610 West 39th Street. The building is currently undergoing renovation, and the business that will operate there afterward will have another name.

Finally, I took another walk past Room 39 on the other side of the street about halfway down the next block west. Once again it was closed, but this time it appears to be due to changes in the nature of the business. It looks as if it's transitioning from a coffeehouse/cafe into a full-fledged restaurant that for some reason is not open for dinner on Friday evenings. Whether free wireless Internet access will remain on the menu is still to be seen.

All right KCMO Library, what's the hangup?

Stopped in at the Bluford branch library briefly this afternoon, just to see how close the library system is to getting all its locations unwired by the end of the month, as they've promised. No SSID as of yet. I'll try to check Southeast in the next few days if I get a chance. If anyone out by the Sugar Creek branch would be so kind as to drop in and see whether they're lit up yet, your help would be deeply appreciated.

Now I can see the rationale behind leaving a small storefront location like Sugar Creek for last, but Bluford and Southeast are full-fledged central city branches-and the recent cutback in hours has put even more pressure on their workstation usage. As it is, both should have been unwired long before now.

What's the problem, folks?

Oops, how did I let THIS one slip under the radar for so long?

Dunn Bros. Coffee
Red Bridge Shopping Center, 535 East 111th Street, Kansas City

802.11g
SSID: dunnbros

I think I remember catching some buzz about this location when it opened earlier this year, but things sort of caught up with me and I didn't get a chance to try it out until now. I'm using my backup laptop (the one with the anemic 802.11b card) and it's not having trouble staying connected, so you shouldn't either. If you need a power outlet, your best bet is a table along one of the walls. And therein lies one potential problem. The cafe's a storefront with big-and I mean BIG-windows, which might cause LCD readability issues on a bright sunshiny day if you have to sit up front to plug in.

And curiously, they're set up somewhat like Westport Coffee House-as a cybercafe with a couple of desktop computers at a "tech bar" with a sign declaring that their use requires a purchase. Their wireless network, however, is free and open. I guess we laptoppers are just too conscientious to abuse their hospitality. At least I hope we are.

New title as of today

Since "Wi-Fi" is a trademark, it probably wasn't the best idea to use it as I did. Not that anyone said anything about it, mind you, but why invite problems when you don't have to?

I guess I should have seen this coming.

According to this blogger, the McDonald's across from the Kansas Speedway has dropped its free wireless access and gone play-for-pay via Wayport and AT&T.

Well, take heart, The Yard House Restaurant in the Legends development is listed on wififreespot (click the Kansas link for wififreespot.com under the "Links" section of this page and look at the listings under "Kansas City") and I believe there's going to be a new Panera out there soon which like all the rest of their local restaurants should offer free Wi-Fi. There's hope for KCK and Wyandotte County yet.

Sleepless in Seattle? No, wireless in Westport

Kansas City Public Library, Westport Branch
118 Westport Road, Kansas City

802.11g
SSID: library

You'd think that this would be the least laptop-friendly of all KCMO's branches, given that it's located in the oldest building, and you'd be right, although not for the reason you'd imagine. Actually they have available a vacant shelf/desk of the sort provided for their own computers, with a cutout to pass your power cord through and six power outlets underneath, and seating for two. So, what's the problem? On every table I can see in the building, there are signs reading "Due to demand, library seating is limited to two hours per day." I dare not ask whether or how they really enforce this.

Assuming you still want to try this one out, there are either three or four access points, depending on whether you choose to believe my finder or the results of a scan I did in Linux using my laptop's built-in adapter. One of them is visible on the wall next to the monitor for the computer sign-up system. Actually in a building this small, one is probably all they really need.

Anyway, when your two hours are up, Westport offers plenty more Wi-Fi opportunities. Unfortunately, at least tonight, I couldn't count the first two places I tried among them.

First was Mesa Wraps at 4120 Pennsylvania (some local directories still erroneously list its former address across the street at 4129). No connectivity beyond the access point. Someone on the crew let slip that the problem had been going on "for ages." I guess the word had gotten round; mine was the only laptop or other Internet-capable device in evidence there.

I didn't have any better luck at Tea Drops across the street at 4111 Pennsylvania. This was really disheartening; their network was one of the first ones I was successful with when Wi-Fi really started taking off in Kansas City. Yet a couple of tries only yielded Windows' dreaded "Limited or no connectivity" response. Maybe everyone else knew something I didn't here as well. Once more, I was alone in trying to get online.

Discouraged, I trudged north on Pennsylvania, thinking that surely the third time must be the charm...and it was.

Westport Coffee House
4010 Pennsylvania

802.11b
SSID: Westport Coffeehouse

Sit at the tables by the windows in front if you need to be near a power outlet. Curiously, they're set up as a cybercafe with a couple of banks of desktop computers available for a fee, yet their Wi-Fi is still free and open. Interesting business model. Wonder how it's working out for them.

Panera Bread
4117 Mill Street

802.11g
SSID: Panera Bread #6

For some reason, this location closes at 7 p. m., but the network was still live. I can see power outlets under the windows on the patio, where I'm briefly sitting on one of the tables, but I'm not going to bother with plugging in to see if they're hot.

39th and State Line area:

The Crave Cafe
1615 West 39th Street

802.11g
SSID: TheCrave

It's small, cramped, and with live music on the outdoors patio a bit noisy, but if you're lucky enough to score a corner table in front, you'll have a power outlet available on the wall beside it.

Room 39 at 1719 West 39th was closed for a private party, so I pretty much did a "walk-by" with my finder. There's an open 802.11g access point that may be theirs, but I'd ask first to be sure.

Fric and Frac
1700 West 39th Street

802.11b
SSID: FricAndFrac

By the time I got here I was too sated with the chicken sandwich wrap, vanilla latte, and iced tea I'd had on the way to either sit and order anything or have a (soft) drink at the bar. So I took a walk through to get an idea as to whether one would find a convenient power outlet (I didn't see any) and then took up temporary residence on a stone bench on the Genessee Street side of the building to post this. Even from outside I got enough of a signal for a speed of 1 megabit per second, so connecting inside shouldn't be a problem.

Away out West...(well, actually east, but...)

Kansas City Public Library, Trails West branch
11401 East 23rd Street, Independence

802.11g
SSID: library

Unless you're the adventurous sort like I am, don't even think about bringing a laptop here without a fully-charged battery-and a spare if you've got an extended stay in mind. As of yet, there aren't any carrels save for those already occupied by their workstations, and the only ready-to-use power outlet I've seen anywhere in the building is in the corner by the windows to the left of the information desk. It's on the wall behind a couple of chairs, adjacent to the Kansas City wall map hanging next to the window. Trying to see your screen while contending with direct sunlight coming through the window , however, can be a problem at certain times of the day. You might decide to just find a darker spot and go cordless for as long as you can.

Then again, if you want to be adventurous, there are a couple of outlets in the floor by a maroon chair not far from the corner, and another pair next to the round table closest to the windows. The adventurous part is that they're covered by threaded bronze caps screwed into the floor plate. I'm writing this while plugged into the outlet near the table, having rather discreetly unscrewed one of the caps about twenty minutes ago, and no one's said anything yet. Should you decide to boldly go this route, please be polite and replace the cap when you leave. (I'd go for the table, by the way, at least during the daytime; the chair's back is toward the windows, which is good for reading a book, but not an LCD screen.)

Once more, they've done a good job of hiding the five access points and their antennas, but in such a small building getting a good signal shouldn't be a problem for a properly functioning adapter.

Three down, three to go?

Kansas City Public Library, Waldo Community Branch
201 East 75th Street, Kansas City

802.11g
SSID: library

Apparently, whoever promised that KCMO's public library branches would all be unwired by the end of next month wasn't just whistling Dixie. According to their wireless information page, this branch as well as the Trails West and Westport branches now have Wi-Fi, leaving only Bluford, Southeast, and Sugar Creek still to go live. (Southeast still wasn't showing a SSID as of this afternoon, when I stopped in for a few moments.)

I just hope that what I'm seeing in the way of performance here at Waldo is merely the result of my experimenting with wireless networking in Linux and not an indication of problems with the connection itself. I've used dialup that was faster than this. Also, there aren't any power outlets readily apparent. Tell you what. I'll take a break and go search for one, then boot into Windows and let you know if that's any better.

Update: I'm now in Play-for-Pay...oops, I mean Windows, and it is better. Well, as they say, the trouble with free software is that you get what you pay for. Anyway, there's a two-outlet power receptacle in the floor near a table by the back. It's the only really usable one I've found, though (there are a few wall receptacles in back by the windows, but if you try plugging into them you'll probably get into trouble for running your cord across the floor to them from the nearest chairs or tables), so you should definitely plan on using battery power for an extended visit. Don't bother with trying to plug your AC adapter into any of the outlets under the carrels. The one beneath the carrel I sat at wasn't "hot" and I'd hazard a guess that none of the rest of them are either. I don't see any of the access points or antennas, but with my finder having detected four APs getting and staying connected shouldn't be a problem if your adapter is working as it should.

And if any of you ever thought you had any reason to risk using that rogue open access point I've warned you about a couple of times now, you don't any more.

Good news for KCMO Public Library patrons, but if you live near a Mid-Continent Public Library branch-

-and if you're reading this blog, you probably already know what I didn't back in November when I opined that Mid-Continent would be ripe for setting up free wireless, and have just managed to confirm: They already have Wi-Fi in many of their locations, but it's play-for-pay through AT&T. Strange, that. They don't hire a vendor to charge you for borrowing or even just sitting down and reading a book right there in the library, but doing the same thing with a website in a manner that frees up the use of a library workstation for someone else who really needs it requires you to take a credit-card hit.

I've heard of public libraries in other parts of the country doing this, but never really thought I'd see it around here. I'm really curious as to Mid-Continent's rationale for going this route. Why should taxpayers essentially be forced to pay twice for something in this manner? And were the potential legal ramifications fully considered? One would think the library would be on rather tenuous ground if it attempted to enforce its acceptable use policy against someone who for all intents and purposes is an AT&T customer whom they observed doing what would constitute a violation if it were done on the library's computers or network (neither of which the patron would be using). As an alternative, under their behavior policy they might be able to give him or her the bum's rush for harassment or creating a disturbance, but even this could backfire on them, given that the offending party was paying someone else for access to whatever it was they had problems with.

Also, if I'm a laptop user who for whatever reason doesn't have a credit card, I suppose the library and its patrons are OK with me putting even more pressure on their beleaguered workstations.

If you're with MCPL, or if you're a district patron or taxpayer and would care to weigh in with a response to this either pro or con, I'd love it if you'd leave a comment.

Oh, I almost forgot-now for the good news. According to a response left by someone in the Kansas City, Missouri Public Library's information technology department to a question on their website's message board, all of their branch locations will be unwired by the end of June. Now this will be a momentous happening, since not only will it make KCMO the first big library system in the area to have done so-with free wireless at least- but I'm pretty certain that their Bluford and Southeast branches will be the only free hotspots in the inner city, if one goes in for euphemisms (or the only ones east of Troost if one does not). If I'm wrong about that, please don't hesitate to leave a comment and let everyone know.

A trend from California I hope we DON'T start seeing here

San Francisco Chronicle
Laptop thieves descend upon wireless cafes
Grab-and-run robbers find pricey computers easy to resell

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/04/08/MNGE9I686K1.DTL

I haven't heard of anything like this happening around KC yet. Has anyone else?

At any rate, let's be careful out there.

A nice place to visit, but can you live without Usenet?

The Roasterie Cafe
6223 Brookside Boulevard (southeast corner of 62nd Terrace and Brookside), Kansas City

802.11g
SSID: Cafe

I'd wanted to try this one ever since the buzz about it started, so needing refreshment in the aftermath of the Brookside St. Patrick's Day warm-up parade gave me my chance. It's been described as laptop-friendly, but I think that's a relative term. If the place isn't crowded you shouldn't have trouble getting a table next to the wall and a power outlet, but there don't seem to be an awful lot of them. Although I connected at only 36 Mbps for some reason and then for some other reason saw that speed drop to 24, it's still way faster than whatever backhaul they're using, so there's no effect on performance.

There's only one minor quibble, one that probably won't matter to the majority of today's Internet users, especially younger ones. For some reason, port 119, the NNTP or Usenet news port, appears to be blocked. Yes, Usenet has been largely supplanted by Web-based discussion resources, and it still carries a stigma in some people's minds as a rather unsavory place, although there never really was that much smut on it, at least compared to everything else, if you ask me. And certainly there's more dirty stuff on the Web now than there'd be available through what still is largely a text-based means of communication. Anyway, I'm mentioning this just in case it's a concern.

Oh, one more thing. Watch out for what appears to be a residential network whose owner hasn't even bothered to change the default SSID on their router, let alone set up their encryption. Methinks they shall come to regret that...

No laptop? No problem!

I stopped in at the Plaza Library to update the blog while on the run this afternoon and noticed that their long-rumored laptop lending program has become a reality. Just show them a library card and a picture ID and you can treat yourself to the exclusive use of a Pentium M-equipped Dell Latitude D810 with wireless access to the library's online resources and the Internet, courtesy of the library's network. The downsides are that the machines use the same management software as the library's workstations, although instead of just 45 minutes of use you'll get 60, and the connection is, of course, filtered.

Someone I spoke with at the library says they currently have ten of the machines, and there are usually two or three in use at any given time.

Hmmm...now if they'd offer to lend you a MacBookPro for a couple of hours in return for joining the Friends of the Library, they might have something there.

Wyandotte County races on (or at least tries to).

I just happened to see a report on another local blog that the newly opened McDonald's restaurant in the Legends shopping center development at Village West next to the Kansas Speedway has free wireless Internet, so I saved a day's lunch money to finance the gas for a drive out there and back for a Saturday breakfast. Sadly, I only ended up batting .500. I got the meal, but not the Internet.

Oh, the network is there, all right, and connecting to it was a snap. The problem was that it didn't give me a DNS server, so I couldn't go anywhere. The manager, an affable chap, offered what help he could ("Well, it was working earlier this week. I guess I'll have to call it in.").

While I sympathize with the manager-after all, he is a restaurant manager, not a system administrator-I was really disappointed at not getting a chance to sing the praises of yet another McDonald's doing more for its customers than for corporate conformity. Not only that, but in Wyandotte County-perhaps the most underserved part of the metro. I certainly hope this effort generates some momentum that results not only in more free open hotspots nearby, but carries towards the east and really starts shrinking the digital divide. For one thing, maybe the KCK Public Library will unwire its West Wyandotte branch. The building already has carrels wired for power; why not go the next step and let patrons who tote in their own laptops and thus help save scarce library workstations for those who really need them have the same access to the Internet and library resources?

And if I can have the manager's attention for a moment: I don't mean this as criticism, but advice. I realize, as I pointed out in the previous paragraph, that your expertise is in food service management and not information technology. However, I hope you realize that the strategic goals that prompted you to offer free Wi-Fi dictate that whatever you have to do to keep outages like this from becoming commonplace, you need to do-and FAST. Running a free hotspot really can and will do everything you think it can for you. There's only one way that will happen, though. You simply cannot afford to let your network get a reputation for being unreliable. Not many people are going to make a second trip to a hotspot they find has gone cold-and none will make a third.

Since I don't plan on skipping another lunch anytime soon, I won't be doing a full evaluation of this one. Any of you who make it by there once it comes back up are welcome to fill us in on what you find. The restaurant, by the way, is on the southeast corner of 106th and Parallel, right behind the Legends 14 theater. The access point is 802.11g and the SSID is KCSpeedway_McDonald's. Also, the report I read mentioned an SSID from another nearby restaurant, and cautioned against connecting to it by mistake. There is a weak signal that my finder couldn't pick up but my laptop's built-in card could which may be what the author is referring to, but the only other unencrypted networks I saw were for Wayport and Freedomlink locations, both of which are, of course, play-for-pay and rather difficult to log onto by mistake, unless you're a hopeless spendthrift.

Then again, if you're a hopeless spendthrift, you're probably too busy shopping to be sitting there reading this.

After that last post, I needed a break-and found one.

Homer's Coffee House
7126 W. 80th, Overland Park

802.11b
SSID: Homers

First, the caveats: There's an open 802.11b network owned by a nearby car dealership (you'll be able to tell from the SSID) that you may inadvertently connect to instead of the coffeehouse's if you're not careful. Also, if you need to be near a power outlet, the only ones I saw were by the tables along the back wall. Finally, the place can be a bit noisy when it's crowded-as it is at around 7 p. m. Friday as I'm writing this. They also have live music as a draw, so if trying to work to that isn't your cup of tea-oh, excuse me, coffee-keep that in mind.

With that out of the way, the signal is strong, the connection fast and stable, and I was pleased to find out upon finally being able to update my Spybot that they indeed did release a new definition file today-one that provides protection from an additional thirty exploits. And to think I almost went to another Johnson County Library location instead.

Some things don't get better with age...

...and unfortunately, the Johnson County Library's wireless network is among them.

I stopped in at the Central Resource Library on another research errand and decided to haul my laptop along just to see if there's been any improvement in their Wi-Fi's dismal level of usability and performance, which I detailed last October. Believe it or not, it seems to have only gotten worse. Their DansGuardian filtering implementation has reached the point of being simply ridiculous. For instance, I was on TV Guide's website and couldn't even access different dates in the online listings grid. Gee, with more and more laptops doubling as digital video recorders these days, that's sure to make the library more popular with patrons.

And if you're a Windows user running Spybot for anti-malware protection, you should still be cautious about spending too much time on this network. Although the free versions of AVG Anti-Virus and Ad-Aware can now update themselves through this connection, access to the update servers for Spybot is still blocked. The potential threat this poses-especially in today's environment with its increasing number of "zero-day"exploits that are discovered only once they actually start hosing computers-to anyone using a public broadband network should be obvious. Apparenty, to whomever is administering this network, it's not.

All right, I'll spell it out. Spybot provides real-time protection the same way a firewall or an an anti-virus program does; it starts when the computer does and runs continuously while the computer is running. Preventing it from updating itself, or preventing the laptop owner from doing so manually by blocking access to the update servers will eventually create the same vulnerability as running an anti-virus program with outdated definitions. Sooner or later, a new exploit will find its way onto a computer before the updated definition file designed to combat it does. Well, is the risk obvious now?

If anyone with the library would care to attempt to justify any of this, feel free to leave a comment.

And if you're a Johnson County resident, taxpayer, or voter, I'd like to ask you something. Is this really the best you can do?