Marion Square is now a Wi-Fi hot spot. Mayor Joe Riley launched free wireless internet service in the downtown Charleston park Wednesday morning by sending the ceremonial first email from a laptop at its center, The Post and Courier reported.
Google is paying for the network with a $47,000 grant that covers its capital costs and maintenance for three years, the Charleston Regional Business Journal reported. The Charleston Digital Corridor Foundation, which received the grant, owns and operates the network.
Instead of cutting a ribbon, officials snipped an Ethernet cord, The Post and Courier and the Business Journal reported. Eric Wages, operations manager of Google’s Berkeley County data center, joined Riley for the launch.
“We already know Marion Square is a hot spot in town. Today it’s about to become a Wi-Fi hotspot,” Wages said, according to the Business Journal.
Aerolina Wireless Internet Services installed four nodes on poles around the park’s perimeter, The Post and Courier reported. Users are limited to three hours of access a day, said Ernest Andrade, director of the Charleston Digital Corridor, according to the newspaper.
Marion Square is the first park in the area with free public Wi-Fi, and Riley said the city plans to add Waterfront Park and the Battery, the Business Journal reported.
“The measure of a great city is quality public spaces that by their nature are free,” Riley said, according to the Business Journal.
The timing helps the Charleston Wine + Food Festival, which begins Thursday and was setting up tents in the park Wednesday. Randi Weinstein, the festival’s director of events, said she used to run wires across Meeting Street and piece together several networks for exhibitors and guests, The Post and Courier reported.
“It’s invaluable, honestly,” she said of the new network.
Charleston tried to offer wireless internet on the peninsula in 2006, but the plan ran into technical problems and unexpected costs, The Post and Courier reported. Andrade said the technology has improved dramatically since then.
Google has sponsored similar networks before. In October, Goose Creek became the first South Carolina municipality to get free wireless service from Google, a setup that will cost the company $167,000 over three years, the newspaper reported.
