More than 2 years ago, Elliot Lake City Council approved spending up to $50,000 to improve free Wi-Fi service in and around City owned facilities. Plans approved so far call for spending $20,000 of that.
At Monday night's Elliot Lake City Council meeting, Elliot Lake IT Manager Robyn Scott announced 13 locations where the Wi-Fi hot spot service will be provided by the end of the summer.
She said altogether 50 megabytes of service per second would be provided with a maximum of 10 megabytes at each location. Those sites include the City Hall entrance area, the indoor pool entrance, the city airport waiting area, the Fire Tower at the Elliot Lake Lookout, Westview Campground, Westview Park, Spine and Spruce Beaches, the public boat launch, Miner's Memorial, Collins Hall, and potentially, Centennial Arena, Parsons Park and the Civic Centre. Outdoor seasonal sites include the Fire Tower Lookout, the two beaches, Westview Campground and Park, the boat launch, Miner's Memorial and Parsons Park.
Once the IT upgrade was passed unanimously by City Council, Mayor Dan Marchisella noted it will be wonderful for a business person to sit in a car parked in Westview Park to be able to enjoy the view whole doing business online with their smart phone or tablets.
Councillor Luc Cyr opined, "I think this is a wonderful idea." He added, "It gives access to the Internet to a lot of people who might not be able to. I think it's an important step. Good job."
Councillor Chris Patrie asked Scott how long it would be before there could be further expansion.of the planned citywide Wi-Fi Internet share points. She replied more service could be rolled out in 2020 but it would be more expensive than the cost of adding the new service this summer. That's because this summer's upgrades are based on building on service points already in place, whereas new service areas beyond that would involve setting up new builds.
In response to a security inquiry from Councillor Tom Turner, Ms. Scott said users will not have access to the city's servers when the free Wi-Fi is set up, hence there will be no security worries for the city.
She also told him that the addition of video cameras at remote sites would allow the City to stream video from remote points, for a relatively inexpensive investment. Manager Scott said street signs announcing the new Wi-Fi zones being provided will be installed by Elliot Lake Public Works employees.