A fellow traveler weighs in

Interesting report from a freelance writer on the state of things around town in this morning's Kansas City Star Magazine. I find it particularly gratifying not only that all but one of the sites she mentions have been reviewed here at some point, but that consequently the article's emphasis is on locations that are free and open (take that, Starbucks, Borders and KCK Library!).

I'll second the writer's nomination of the Plaza Library as the best local hotspot at the moment-and while I'm at it, I might mention that it appears KCPL has either discontinued filtering its connection-at least for patron-owned clients-or has finally gotten it properly tweaked to avoid the overblocks that plagued it in its earlier years. Haven't run into any lately.

I find it curious, however, that the author apparently didn't visit the Crown Center atrium, one of ath64's favorites and a place I also often like to unwind before heading home on Friday nights.

Her endorsement of the Johnson County Library's network also gives me pause. From the founding of this blog up until a couple of years ago, ath64 extensively documented this connection's shortcomings, which my few visits to JCL branches served to confirm. Unless it has undergone significant improvement since then (and if it has and we're just not aware of it, fill us in!) we'd still list it as one to avoid, if for no other reason than that its restrictions and limitations may get in the way of protecting yourself and your computer from snooping, malware and other threats-especially if (I know I'll get in trouble for this, but I'll say it anyway) you're running Windows.

I wouldn't quibble with any of the author's "rules," especially those reminding us of our obligation to reward proprietors for their courtesy and not to wear out our welcome. I'm not really sure that's a problem around here-at least not yet-but let's endeavor to keep things that way.

Finally I'm a little puzzled that with so much free and open Wi-Fi readily available, she'd even mention cellular broadband as an option-and that she'd fall for the "free aircard" gimmick. Sixteen hundred bucks-which over the course of the two-year contract you'll have to sign is about what you'll spend on average in order to keep your "free" aircard fed (on a five gigabyte per month diet over a much slower connection)-will buy a lot of sandwiches and lattes, with plenty left over for gas and parking.

Of course, there are beginning to be some interesting alternatives to the above. I'm told you can now hop onto Verizon's 3G network for $15 per day with no further commitment if you pay full retail for the aircard. There's also Virgin Mobile's newly announced Broadband2Go offering; pay $150 outright for the aircard at Best Buy, then pay as you go for as little as $10 for 100 megabytes over ten days. If it weren't Windows-only at present and if I really needed it badly enough, I might be tempted.