Life may be an Internet highway

Ruu_Old

Some good news for IL residents and travellers. What a great idea, hope it happens. It would make rest stops more interesting than reading maps or looking at the weather info on the tellys.

SPRINGFIELD - Motorists on Illinois' interstate highways may not have to leave the information highway behind on their travels.

The Illinois Department of Transportation is planning to offer free, wireless Internet access at 53 rest stops on interstate highways across the state.

If things go as IDOT hopes, motorists will be able to access the Internet from the comfort of their cars or trucks sometime next year.

"The goal is to provide a wireless environment (at rest stops) like the experience at a local coffee shop," said Mark Kinkade, IDOT's bureau chief of information processing.

IDOT thinks the service will be popular with motorists who could use it to check e-mail, book hotel rooms online or find a place to eat.

"I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people whose jobs require them to travel in state will use the service quite a bit," Kinkade said.

Under the plan envisioned by the state, a user would have to create an ID in order to log on to the system, much as many commercial Web sites require people to obtain an ID and password for access.

A person would be entitled to use the rest-stop system for no more than 30 minutes a day, after which the access would be terminated. That time limit could change after the state evaluates the system once it is in place. In Iowa, for example, wireless users get the first 30 minutes for free, but can get additional time for a fee.

Illinois also plans to put some limits on what sites can be accessed through the wireless system.

"We will try to screen to prevent public access to objectionable Web sites," Kinkade said.

That also differs from Iowa, which has had wireless Internet access at interstate rest stops since 2005.

"There are very few restrictions," said Steve McMenamin, rest area administrator for the Iowa Department of Transportation. "It is our position that it's not the department's responsibility to govern what people see."

McMenamin said that when Iowa began discussing wireless Internet at rest stops, there were skeptics who questioned if anyone would use the service. They quickly found out.

"We get nothing but compliments on it," McMenamin said. "With very little (promotion), we had considerable use. It's used frequently all over the state."

In fact, Iowa is now installing kiosks at its rest stops so that people without laptop computers can still log on to the system. However, they will not be able to get Internet access through the kiosks.

Iowa's experience hasn't been without problems, though. Initially, a vendor offered to install the system at no cost to the state.

"After one year, that wasn't working out for them. We agreed to let them off the hook," McMenamin said.

Iowa bought the equipment from the old vendor and contracted with a new wireless provider.

Illinois officials are asking wireless providers to submit proposals for offering service at the rest stops here. The company will be responsible for installing equipment at no charge to the state, making its money by selling advertising space on secondary Web pages that users may access.

Vendors are supposed to submit their proposals by Dec. 20. IDOT hopes to select a vendor shortly after that. Once a company is selected, it will have six months to install the service.

DublinEvents

30 minutes is useless for me. I could waste that much time on MSN and feel like it was just 5 minutes

Faith

Yeah, that's pretty rubbish. I've never used a wireless network outside of my own one, but I don't imagine that they charge you! I know the café up the road from me provides wireless internet and I always assumed that it would be free.

Rabies

30mins isn't much, but it is free.

Isn't there talks about Manchester becoming a wireless city or something. Think I read it somewhere.

Maybe I was just dreaming

Ruu_Old

DublinEvents wrote:

30 minutes is useless for me. I could waste that much time on MSN and feel like it was just 5 minutes

Well its not like you are going to be at a rest stop for long amounts of time unless you a are lorry drive sleeping overnight and as mentioned, it would be free.

SoBe

free is always good,30 mins would be good for checking emails and mailing people to let them know where you are and your safe etc.mind you i have seen some of the rest stops along the interstate in ilinois and i wouldnt want to stay there for more than 30 mins anyway