Hot spots help make Omaha 'technologically friendly' city Staying connected

BYLINE: Leia Baez, WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Jon Krause is never out of touch.

He can check his e-mail via his home's high-speed Internet connection, or via the wireless network at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, one of several "hot spots" in the city, or even via his Sprint cell phone.

"If you need a place to get on the Internet, it's easy to find one in Omaha," Krause, 20, said.

A hot spot is a public location where wireless Internet can be accessed.

An increasing number of Omaha residents and businesses are connecting to the Web, making Omaha a "technologically friendly" city, industry officials say.

"Everybody has access to the Internet in Omaha," said Kristin Peck, vice president of public and government affairs for Cox Communications, the fourthlargest cable provider in the United States. "It's just a matter of who takes advantage of it."

Peck declined to disclose exact figures, but she said the company has seen significant growth in the number of Internet subscribers in Omaha in the last year.

An estimated 72 percent of households in Omaha have a personal computer with an Internet connection, and 60 percent of those have a high-speed connection, said Merrill Johnson, product manager at Cox.

Among the cities served by Atlanta-based Cox, Omaha has the highest percentage of households with a high-speed Internet connection, Johnson said.

Qwest Communications has seen growth in Omaha as well, said Joanna Hjelmeland, spokeswoman for Qwest. She, too, declined to disclose an exact number of subscribers in the Omaha area.

Nationally, the Denver-based company has about 2 million high-speed Internet customers across 14 states, a 47 percent increase from last year, she said.

This year, Qwest deployed high-speed Internet connections in 21 Nebraska cities, including Crawford and Valentine, she said.

"We continue to go out and extend our reach further and further," said Rex Fisher, president of Qwest Nebraska.

Fisher said Omaha customers have easy access to the Internet because a lot of companies offer different services and the cost for Internet continues to drop.

"Nebraska is one of the most wired states you're going to find," Fisher said. "Most people think we are a rural state, and they make the assumption we are less wired when the reality is really different."

Qwest offers both high-speed and wireless, although, Hjelmeland said, many people still use dial-up because it suits their needs.

According to the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, there were 1,169,068 wireless phone customers in Nebraska last year. The association's survey in June 2006 indicated that 56 percent of handsets on carrier networks (cell phones, BlackBerries) were Web-capable and 46 percent were actually used in that way.

Krause, a UNO junior, said he could access the Internet from his cell phone, but normally doesn't have to because of increased availability of wireless Internet connections and hot spots in the city.

Most businesses, universities and libraries go with wireless Internet, giving users convenience and a free connection, said Hesham Ali, dean of UNO's College of Information Science and Technology.

Elmwood Park, which connects UNO's north and south campuses, became wireless in November, with help from Wireless Omaha, a project organized by UNO and the City of Omaha to bring free wireless Internet to parts of Omaha, Ali said.

Wireless Omaha also is working with the Omaha Public Library to install infrastructure in four of 10 Omaha libraries, including the Charles B. Washington branch at 28th Street and Ames Avenue. Some library branches already have wireless access, but Ali said the goal is to increase the availability.

"These connections are not meant to replace Internet providers like Cox or Qwest, because the bandwidth is completely different," he said. "We just want to build basic infrastructure for those who can't afford it or can't get it otherwise and put them on the map as far as connectivity."

Wireless Omaha, which is funded by grants, is working on expanding the wireless coverage area near Liberty Elementary at 20th Street and St. Mary's Avenue, among other projects.

"The school has a program where students can take laptops home, but when they do, they have no connectivity," Ali said.

Panera Bread was one of the first businesses in Omaha to offer free wireless Internet, said Julie Somers, spokeswoman for the Missouri-based chain. The company began offering free Wi-Fi -- wireless fidelity -- in August 2004 and now offers it in more than 1,000 of its cafes nationwide.

Panera Bread was recognized as the "2005 Technology Innovator" by Fast Company magazine, Somers said.

"What it's primarily done is helped us fill in slower periods of time," she said. "Other businesses are catching on in Omaha and realizing the benefits this has."

It's not only restaurants and coffee shops that are offering Internet access in or near Omaha. According to JiWire, an online public hot spot directory, truck stops, bars, stores and even a carwash offer wireless access.

Hospital operator Alegent Health was named to the nation's top 25 "Most Wireless" and 100 "Most Wired" lists, according to the 2006 Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study in the July issue of Hospitals & Health Networks magazine.

Children's Hospital received a Top 25 Most Improved Award for its information technology use. Alden Solovy, executive editor of Hospitals & Health Networks magazine in Chicago, said the Omaha hospitals were selected because of their use of information technology.

A survey by Intel that ranked U.S. cities by the availability of wireless Internet in 2005 listed Omaha 60th in the country. Seattle, San Francisco and Austin, Texas, topped the list of 100 cities.

Ali said Omaha is moving up the ranks.

"Nebraska is getting a reputation that it's technologically friendly and ahead of the curve," Ali said. "We think it will be a positive component in the drive for economic development in the city."

Ali said he is optimistic that all of Omaha will soon be wireless.

"I feel like Omaha has an advantage that it's big enough to convince people a wireless Omaha is needed, but it's small enough where you can actually do it."

Staying connected

More businesses are catching on to the trend of offering customers Internet access. Here are some of the things you can do while still being able to check your e-mail and surf the Web:

Have your car washed: Russell Speeder's Car Wash, 118th Street and West Dodge Road.

Go camping: Mahoney State Park, Interstate 80, Exit 426, Ashland.

Travel west: Flying J Travel Plaza, Interstate 80, Exit 432, Gretna.

Send a package: UPS Store, 12105 West Center Road

Have a beer and wings: DJ's Dugout, 636 N. 114th St., Miracle Hills Plaza.

Wait for your flight: Eppley Airfield.

Make copies: FedEx Kinko's, 7110 Dodge St.

Watch UNO hockey or Creighton basketball: The Qwest Center Omaha, 455 N. 10th St.