Both of my daughters are now taking dance classes near the University. My younger daughter’s class takes place on Saturday, and I do our weekly grocery shopping while she’s in class. The other class takes place at the end of the day on Wednesday, leaving me with not much to do for an hour.<\/p>\n
Ukrop’s<\/a> to the rescue! The grocery store at the Village Shopping Center has a wireless network. They set it up in their caf\u00c3\u00a9, and the best part is that wireless access is free.<\/p>\n This past Wednesday was the first time that I brought my computer to Ukrop’s. I set up in the caf\u00c3\u00a9 only to find that while I was able to connect to the wireless network I wasn’t able to access any web site or service. Since I work in IT I thought this would be something I could troubleshoot but I seemed to get stuck when I tried to release and renew my DHCP settings. Nothing happened.<\/p>\n Seeking help, I went to the customer service desk at the front of the store. The person behind the desk didn’t seem to know much about the network. One of the area managers came over and I asked him if he knew anything that might help. He knew about it but wasn’t able to offer any assistance.<\/p>\n Depressed, I went down to the local Starbucks. Many Starbucks have a wireless environment and while I was pretty sure it costs money to use, I thought I’d at least find out. It turns out it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s $9.95 to have a single day of access, or $29.95 a month to have ongoing access. <\/p>\n Since I’m going to have dance class twice a week from now through May I decided Ukrop\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s would be worth a second try. I brought my Mac back to Ukrop’s for Saturday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s grocery shopping trip. Once again I found myself on their wireless network but unable to access the Internet.<\/p>\n I went to the service desk determined to be more persistent this time. As before the person behind the counter had no real understanding of the wireless network, but one of the cashiers who is standing by mentioned that the wireless network had been down for some time. It turns out that the cash register station in the caf\u00c3\u00a9 uses the wireless network too. Another manager wandered by and listened to my story. He didn’t seem to know what to do but he suggested that the customer service person page another manager. Two managers were paged, and after a moderate amount of time neither of them showed up. After waiting for some time, the manager who had listened to my story reappeared and told me that he had unplugged and plugged back in their modem.<\/p>\n Sure enough, when I went back to the caf\u00c3\u00a9 the wireless network appeared and I was on the Internet at last.<\/p>\n Wireless is a new service at Ukrop’s as it is in many places. Creating a wireless network in a store creates the opportunity for the community to come together. It’s also a nice way to make some money. But I think many stores are like Ukrop’s, offering a service without having anyone on hand who knows how to manage it. In this time before wireless networking becomes ubiquitous, those of us who wish to use the services may find ourselves providing the technical support that these establishments need.<\/p>\n For now I’m simply looking forward to the next dance class and a the opportunity to get some work done in Ukrop’s Caf\u00c3\u00a9.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Technorati Tags: computing<\/a>, wireless<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Both of my daughters are now taking dance classes near the University. My younger daughter’s class takes place on Saturday, and I do our weekly grocery shopping while she’s in class. The other class takes place at the end of … Continue reading