Open Air Revisited

onKC Metro Hotspots (Downtown Kansas City):

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

802.11g
SSID: onKCmetro WiFi

If there's anything I can think of that would be less necessary than ath64 thinks hotspot printing is, it would have to be an outdoor hotspot-particularly one like this in broad daylight with its dearth of well-shaded places to sit. Nonetheless, it's here and it's working, unlike its original incarnation as reported by ath64 not long after this blog's founding. So...if you're lucky enough to find a cheap parking place within a reasonable walk-or if you're brave enough to come after 6 p. m.-and you don't forget to charge your battery (important, remember, because you'll have to give your eyes time to adapt if you come before dark), and you can come up with a better excuse than not having contributed to your blog in a long time, well...

Oops-one caveat. There are a LOT of open routers visible at this location. Be careful which one you hook up with.

River Market area, approximately 3rd and Walnut

802.11b
SSID: onKCmetro

I'll be honest and tell you that all I did here was pull into the City Market parking lot and do a scan with my finder. There's a signal, but it appears weak. And frankly I didn't see many well-placed locations where one could sit with a laptop in broad daylight and use it easily, so I didn't try. I did happen to notice a SSID from a nearby coffeehouse that might be worth checking out, but the place was closed. Maybe one of us will look into it later on-unless one of you does.

Ilus W. Davis Park, across 9th Street from Federal Courthouse

802.11b
SSID: ONkcMETRO

Same thing here-I parked just to the west on Oak and did a finder scan. I just wasn't comfortable with going across the street and booting up a Mac with all those street people hanging around. If you ask me this one is strictly for weekday use during business hours.

And here's a suggestion to the onKCmetro folks. You need to decide on a consistent spelling, punctuation and capitalization for your SSID, and then use it.

Before leaving downtown, I stopped in at the KC Live covered pavilion in the Power and Light District across Grand from the Sprint Center to check out the purported hotspot there. Unfortunately, it seems the Cordish regime is more concerned with garnering bad publicity for itself by chasing away people it considers undesirable than it is with providing Wi-Fi that works. Too bad, because KC Live actually has laptop-friendly potential. There are places to sit, and adding power outlets wouldn't be difficult. Also the pavilion roof helps with LCD reading in the daytime. Well, if anyone who manages to get past the apparel Nazis should happen to find the network up and running, let us know. (And if anyone knows whether the presence of Time Warner's RoadRunner SSID means P&L has gone play-for-pay, that would be of interest as well.)

As for the status of P&L's coming Latte Land location, it's still coming, according to P&L's website. Curiously, Latte Land makes no mention of it on theirs. Wonder why? The building-on the southeast corner of 12th and Main-appears finished, but it still appears to be empty.

And finally, here's some friendly advice to the proprietor(s) of the new coffeehouse on Grand about a block north of Sprint/Power and Light: If your new location is NOT OPEN YET, it MIGHT be considered a courtesy for you to SAY SO in your advertising.

It's all in the follow-through...

Stopped in at the KCMO Southeast Branch Library for a bit this afternoon, and was gratified to see a big V-shaped table towards the back with cutouts for power. The not-so-gratifying news is that there's neither a power outlet in the floor anywhere near the table nor any wiring to connect to it if there were one.

I know things are rather tough money-wise right now, but you'd think after a couple of years there'd have been a bit more progress toward laptop-friendliness here.

Memo to the library administration: If you can't afford having an outlet installed under the table where it is now, why not move it a few feet towards the front of the building and use the existing outlet I'm plugged into now? You know-the one I had to move the circular table I'm sitting at next to so I wouldn't run the risk of your getting a bit exercised over my running a cord a long distance over the floor.

Just a thought.

What, no cards or presents?

I mean, after all, today does just happen to be the third birthday of this blog.

Oh well, it's the thought that counts, isn't it?

Thanks to however many-or few-of you regularly stop by, and here's hoping we can make it worth your while for another year.