Broadband update: free public Wi-Fi in Torch Lake Township

You have heard me whine about my inability to obtain reliable high speed internet at the heavily-wooded Writing Studio and Bait Shop.  I was particularly frustrated last summer when I was trying to edit large documents for a client in Minneapolis.  Downloading and uploading over my slow dialup seemed to take longer than the actual editing. 

Township Supervisor Bob Spencer has heard more than his share of my grousing, so when he saw me with Babs and Betty Jo at the back table at Sonny’s on Tuesday, he came right over to tell us that the new Community Services Building had become a free public Wi-Fi hotspot.  This was extremely good news, and I wasted no time trying it out.  On Tuesday evening as I waited for the polls to close I sat in the lobby with my laptop and had a glorious time uploading photos, reading the New York Times election updates, and trading emails with my farflung family.  I could even watch YouTube videos, but as I had the sound turned off out of respect for the nearby voting, I could not hear them.

The next morning I was back, sleepily trying to finish stories on deadline, and failing – but that was not the fault of the internet connection.  It worked fine, it was just my brain that was unreliable and slow.  Now I’ve had some sleep, I’ll go over once more and try various options.  Maybe I’ll see about renting office space in the “bonus room” upstairs . . .  And if I can get a signal in the parking lot, you’ll probably see me skulking about at odd hours when nobody’s there but EMTs and volunteer firefighters.

Areas tested so far:

• Front lobby
• Inner lobby
• Community Room

I’ll let you know how that parking lot thing works out.