Posted on November 14, 2006 at 1:22 PM in @earthlink
Note: The below is an archived entry from Earthling, formerly EarthLink's official blog. The blog itself has been decommissioned and is no longer updated, and comments are trackbacks are no longer accepted.
I'm back in the office today* and in the middle of catching up on everything. If you're expecting a reply from me on something, please bear with me while I dig out.
A couple of weeks ago Schroeder, one of the bloggers I met on my last trip to New Orleans spotted an EarthLink Wi-Fi SSID in the wild. Before my vacation I asked our Wi-Fi team for an update and found out the build-out is in fact in full swing and they're installing Wi-Fi radios on light poles and working on the network infrastructure. I had little intention of doing much work on my vacation, but knowing all that (not to mention the tremendous food options available), I couldn't resist passing through the city on my way back from Baton Rouge. So on Sunday I went nodespotting.
With my carefully trained nodespotting instincts and some rough instructions about where to look, I saw a bunch of nodes on light poles up and down South Carrollton Ave. With a friend's laptop I was able to hop on to the free network from there and perform my first Google search from FeatherByEarthLink. More photos of nodes in the wild here.
*Thanks to John for keeping the blog well fed while I was gone.
Comments
I live in New Orleans, and am still figuring out how the network is free. I chatted with Earthlink's tech support people the other night, and they denied that free access exists anywhere in the U.S. I sent them numerous URL's to posts stating the link is free, but they were still in denial. When I called their phone number, a kindly Indian gentleman said the link was not up and running yet, unless I could somehow get lucky enough to find a node my computer's wireless card could pick up. Well, I found two nodes, but without Earthlink's software and key I can't get on. And to get the software and key I have to pay $17.95. Not that it's exhorbitant, but it's hardly "free"...
Posted by Paul | March 13, 2007 9:44 PM
Paul, I'm sorry for the confusion, and am looking in to its source. There definitely is a free layer of service in New Orleans, at 300 kbps. While the equipment you get with the paid service improves reception, it's not necessary for use of the free network.
You can access the free tier by logging onto the Web site https://featherwifi.net through the Wi-Fi access software embedded in your desktop or laptop computer.
And here's the full announcement from when we launched the service: http://www.earthlink.net/about/press/pr_neworleans_launch/
Posted by Dave C. | March 14, 2007 3:25 PM