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Baltimore Inner Harbor To Go Wireless
An anonymous reader writes "The City of Baltimore has made free wireless internet available in the Inner Harbor in hopes of bringing in more tourists and business conventions. According to this article on Sunspot Internet service will be available free of charge to portable computers from the Baltimore Science Center to the World Trade Center along the touristy waterfront. Need to check your e-mail when sailing the Chesapeake Bay? Just dock at the Rusty Scupper and whip out your laptop."
Warsailing here I come... I'll bring a new meaning to piracy on the open seas.
I can't say it's helped draw in business yet, but it's here.
--J(K) DOS is like Unix in exactly the same way that a pinto is like an aircraft carrier.
The homeless in Baltimore already ARE geeks. They're laid off tech workers.
Just dock at the Rusty Scupper and whip out your laptop
Why bother? Just make sure you pick up a can of pringles before you set sail.
Where's my lobbyist? Right here.
I wonder how long it's going to take for someone to suck up all the bandwidth by using this for warez uploading or spam? It's a nice idea otherwise.
Chika Chik-ah... do-e ow ow.
I mean, can you really take a Wi-Fi equipped laptop and download mp3's to your heart's content without being tracked down to your IP? Or launch a DDoS attack anonymously?
Again, I guess you hafta take the good with the bad. I can imagine it won't be long before these wireless providers start paying attention to security on these networks.
William
When you're not looking, this sig is in Latin.
I've got free wireless broadband in my town, too. I had to get an antenna to get it to my building, but it works great, and it helps my business a lot by saving $100+/month on a (slower) DSL connection.
Every year Otakon holds one of the biggest east coast anime conventions at the Baltimore Convention Center, right on the Inner Harbor. If the WiFi reaches that far, I might be able to wank my inner geek by not only attending a japanese animation convention while wearing a schoolgirl costume with mechanical power-up accessories, but actually posting live cosplay photos back to my website at the same time.
Life is good. Or sad. Or good!
Just wait till you have to register for the service, and a bill is passed that all your records are accessible for the governement, or better yet Baltimore sells info about your surfing habbits to a 3rd party. But i still think it is cool though.
Just in case you're thinking of going out to try this, Baltimore's Inner Harbor is notoriously expensive and you will be paying for access, just not to an ISP.
At most garages, it costs more than $10 to park, the restaurants in that area serve tasty but expensive food, moderately overpriced shopping stores surround consumers, and random Orioles fans, despondent over the team's performance, may accost you at any time in that area.
You would be better served going to Fells Point and playing video poker at any one of the dozens of bars.
It'll be interesting to see how closely the wireless access is monitored. A government-provided portal to the Internet. Scary thought. It's got to be monitored to some degree, right? Otherwise it's simply a great open portal for spammers.
There is a World Trade Center in Baltimore. Which is the world's tallest pentagonal building.
Right now it's closed for a month because of flooding caused by the hurricane.
--
"What do you want me to do? Whack a guy? Off a guy? Whack off a guy? Cause I'm married."
I live in Chicago, and let me tell you, what they (all big cities, not just Chicago) need is wireless connectivity through rush hour. It would be damn skippy to be able to read a few stories on Slashdot while sitting 45 minutes on the Ike without moving three inches.
/.
Of course, I'm neglecting to think about all the accidents that might be caused...oh well, I guess we can sacrifice safety to read
IGB: More fun than eating oatmeal!
So this means that I can be floating on a boat, enjoying the sun, the smell of the harbour and reading /. What more could a geek want apart from a girlfriend, faster laptop, respect from hispeers
:)
Great
Rus
Cheap UK and US VPS
I think maybe the crackheads and quite regular shootings I see every time I drive through that asshole of a city might need a little more attention than wireless at the Inner Harbor. I live 10 minutes from Baltimore, by the way.
Isabel blew much of into the bay.
Seriously, though, B-mo needs to do more than just provide free wireless. Cleaning up the panhandlers, crackheads, pot peddlers and other assorted dirtbags would go along way to revitalizing the district's nightlife.
It's a cool place to go, it's a shame the city's so dirty and crime ridden. Working in the public safety field, and living in the area, I've spoken with lots of b-mo cops, and morale there is so low. They're just so overwhelmed with typical inner city crime that they've become completely apathetic.
Last year when that crack dealer burned down some ladies home (because she supposedly called the cops on him), and killed her and her 5 children, it should have sent a wake-up call, but the b-mo police just hit the snooze button.
Oh well, wireless is pretty cool, but it's not an area that you'd want to sit in the open with your two thousand dollar laptop.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
"It's hard enough to compete against other companies. If the city starts providing for free what we make people pay for, it could really hurt us," Dowling said.
This is exactly the kind of attitude that hurts technology and customers. It results in monopolistic companies trying everything possible to stick to the existing model, and try and kill of competition (albeit superior in technology and better for the customer).
Microsoft's been trying to hurt Linux as much as possible, because it's a free alternative to their OS, which could potentially kill them.And ofcourse, our beloved RIAA's been trying to kill away a newer, technologically better solution, rather than trying to innovate and provide alternatives that people would pay for.
The right attitude should be to enhance their product so that customers would be willing to pay them for it, over the other cheaper (or free) alternative. Sheesh.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
This will be a great benefit for people visiting Baltimore for conventions. The convention center (as I recall) is just a short walk from the inner harbor, so while taking a break from seminars and trade floor groupies, you can plug in without having to tromp back to your hotel...
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
I've lived in DC for four years. I've been to Baltimore many times during that stretch (a couple times a year), but I haven't made it to the beach once.
Baltimore has a great aquarium, the (currently closed) B&O railroad museum, Fort McHenry, the science museum, and on the waterfront a lot of shopping and restaurants. I've also gone to Baltimore to see shows like Penn & Teller. There are plenty of things to do in Baltimore.
So, I would go to Baltimore before the beach. Even without free wireless, which is irrelevant since I don't have a wireless network card and my laptop is too old to run one.
(And I love beaches, too.)
--RJ
haha! this is a quote from a company that sells a $29.95/month hot spot service, and is upset with the city's new offering:
;-p
"It's hard enough to compete against other companies. If the
city starts providing for free what we make people pay for, it
could really hurt us," Dowling said.
DUH!
i do think that metered wifi access will fail as a business model. virtually every business where the cost of tracking and billing access is MORE than the cost of providing said access becomes just another gratuity. (like a public water fountain)
http://kered.org
Would ye be liking some sea fries with that crabby patty, matey? SPONGEBOB! I'm not paying you to lie around leeching the bandwidth.
Would you like to book your next hotel room a little cheaper than you can by calling? Use the internet to book it, buy it at auction even, which can save you 60%-80%.
Maybe you want to know whether the marina has all of their boats rented for the next day? Luckily the marina just came online with their inventory system and it's now available on the web.
Just two fine examples of why you want the internet around even if you are vacationing. The internet is (also) a tool to be used to make your life easier. It is applicable in all walks of life, vacationing included.
The preceding comment has been reviewed and declared to be compliant with HIPPA Phase II regulations.
Your point MIGHT be valid if we weren't talking about the Government competing with a private business. That's not supposed to happen. A business can only use funds that have been voluntarily given to them by customers/investors to stay in business while the Government can force you to hand over tax revenues to fund whatever they want.
If the company who donated the equipment to the city was running a free hotspot as an advertisement for themselves that'd be one thing, but by getting the city government involved in the project they've probably set themselves up for a lawsuit. The Government is supposed to help along private business, not compete with it. A Government is always unfair competition... Because in the end they can always make you being in business illegal.
Maxim: People cannot follow directions.
Increases in truth directly with the length of time spent explaining them
Being a long-time resident of Baltimore, I must point out that the crime in the Inner Harbor is not as bad as you think during the day. I'm not sure if I'd use it as a safe spot at night, but for standard touristy stuff, it's fine.
I like the idea of free wi-fi. Go to (Hooters|HRC|whatever) grab some food, find a nice spot to sit down outside, and surf the web while enjoying a decent lunch. Combine that with a few fun attractions (boat tours, science center, ESPN Zone), and it has the makings of a fun day out that doesn't require you to give up all contact with the outside world.
Why you're bringing the laptop on a fun day out is beyond me, though... sometimes, we should just unplug, I think. Maybe it's for PDAs with wi-fi (and lots of batteries)?
-Erwos
Plausible conjecture should not be misrepresented as proof positive.
come for the orioles, stay for the WiFi.
PS - Last time we checked, there were enough open business networks available, city sponsered ones aren't necessary.
this will keep me from being at school because now i can sit in hooters all day with my laptop.... THANK YOU BALTIMORE!
Penguin! Oh the insolence!
I've thought about this for a while. By putting a transmitter out near the channel buoy and a notifier that users should try connecting at that point they can point people to navigational charts, highlight hazards that may not be on charts, show weather and tides, point them to the appropriate guest slip and handle payment for that slip. Ultimately, the idea is to create a portal specific to the needs of the maritime community.
The big issues then arise is that do you really want people running the boat and operating a laptop at the same time. This could be combatted somewhat by building text-to-speech tools on the web site so it says everything I mentoned.
will be surviving the three blocks between the parking garage and the inner harbor with your $2000 laptop.