Further to a topic broached in a city council story by Betsy Kline in the May 8 Castlegar News, wifi for the people is soon to be a reality.
The City of Castlegar and Shaw have been working toward making free digital connectivity available at a half dozen locations in the city.
Castlegar’s Director of Finance Andre Buss explained the City’s involvement in a phone interview on May 20.
“Because we serve all taxpayers and not just Shaw customers, we had the option of not doing it, participating and getting a fee – but then only Shaw customers would have had access… or participating and not getting a fee, and allowing access to everybody.”
Shaw customers currently have potential access to more than 80 (at last count, according to Buss) wifi hotspots in the Castlegar area. The new public sites are to be located at Millennium Park, Kinsmen Park, The Doukhobor Discovery Centre, the Kootenay Gallery and the Castlegar and District Heritage Society (Museum) downtown.
“The agreement between Shaw Communications and the City of Castlegar will see residents provided access to Shaw’s superior, carrier-grade Shaw Go WiFi network in municipal buildings and other locations at no cost,” said a Shaw spokeperson. “At this point, Shaw is working closely with the City to finalize public Wi-Fi network installation locations and logistics. We look forward to providing more information once these details have been finalized.”