Being in a technology industry, I am intrigued by the new Broadband grant opportunities that are available via the ARRA program.

While Athens is not an area that is underserved in terms of Broadband, there are certain populations of people in Athens that are underserved and there are certainly nearby areas that do not have access. With this in mind, I was interested in furthering adoption of broadband in our whole six-county region (Athens, Oconee, Madison, Oglethorpe, Jackson and Barrow). So, when I found out about stimulus money that was made available for this very purpose, I helped launch a program to obtain wide spread broadband access for the region and it is my hope is the project will be eligible for the specific funds that are available for sustainable adoption of existing broadband.

The Athens Wi-Fi Pilot started as a 30-day pilot program which will provide free, open access to wireless Internet in a limited geographic area around downtown Athens, GA. This 30-day pilot will provide aggregate data such as number of users, length of sessions and bandwidth usage. This data will help us provide a good indication of the bandwidth needs of larger areas in Athens and other nearby cities.

The free, open Wi-Fi will be available in outdoor areas on certain sections of College Avenue, Clayton Street and Broad Street in downtown Athens. See Map Below.

The pilot program has been a cooperative effort comprised of Stephanie Sharp of Plexus, Athens-Clarke County, Athens Economic Development Authority, Athens Area Chamber of Commerce, and SmartWave Technologies. Our broadband donors include Barberitos (downtown location), Heery’s, Mellow Mushroom, and REM Headquarters.

Be sure to check it out in the next few weeks that you are downtown and let us know what you think through the Web site.