The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Sisters is getting wired - and it's not from the coffee shops that dot the downtown area. Now, there is free wi-fi (wireless fidelity) Internet access available to everyone.

Community Broadband and OutlawNet have quietly gone about setting up a wi-fi network throughout the city which was to become fully active on Sunday, April 1.

"What we deployed in Sisters are extenders or remote units. There are currently six deployed around town right now, but we will be putting up another this week for a total of seven, which will cover most of Sisters," said Leslie Bushnell, general manager of OutlawNet.

After the seventh remote unit is installed and operational, the wi-fi coverage will blanket nearly the entirety of Sisters city limits, providing free but time-limited Internet access to travelers and residents alike. Access will be available in most restaurants, businesses and homes through the area. Visitors to the area will be able to access the Internet from their cars or trucks, while waiting in parking lots, preparing to explore Sisters.

The idea of using wireless technology as a community service and asset is not unique to Sisters. There are a number of cities that have similar wi-fi access throughout the United States. "Lebanon, over in the (Willamette) valley, is considered a model for what can be done with public access wi-fi networks, but Sisters is the first city in Oregon to have a public access wi-fi network east of the Cascades," said Brian Spurgeon of Community Broadband.

The new network should make Sisters a more visitor-friendly city where tourists will choose to linger, check their e-mail and explore the city after discovering all that Sisters has to offer on the wi-fi entrance page.

"I think that this is just great and will be a real asset for Sisters," said Cheryl Mills, Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce executive director.

The new network will allow anyone with a wi-fi enabled device such as a laptop computer, a cell phone or a PDA (personal digital assistant) to connect to the Internet when in broadcast range of an access point. The area covered by an access point is called a hotspot, and in the case of Sisters there are seven overlapping hotspots that will provide seamless wireless Internet coverage throughout most of the city.

The wi-fi system is an addition to the existing residential and business broadband coverage that has been provided by OutlawNet during the past 12 years to the Sisters area. The existing wireless broadband coverage will continue to be improved and expanded to eventually cover the outlying areas that currently are without this broadband coverage according to Bushnell.

The free network is designed to provide Internet access for visitors to the city, as well as address the needs of locals who are only occasional users. "The system provides up to two hours per month of free Internet access. They can check their e-mail, do a Google search or whatever they want. The system keeps track of who they are, and they can connect as often as they want, but the access will only allow a total of two hours per month," said Spurgeon.

When a guest logs on to the wi-fi system, the system's computer will make a note of the unique identification number that each computer possesses. That number will be used to log the amount of time that is spent on the system, so that the guest is not required to provide any personal information.

"When the person logs on to our system, they will bring up a splash page that will have information about Sisters and links to businesses in Sisters. There is no time limit for that access. So visitors that are curious about Sisters can find out about local information, store location and that sort of thing. The time that they spend on that page is not charged against their two hours of Internet access," said Bushnell.

The wi-fi network could have been made operational at an earlier date; however, in an overt act of social responsibility, the new public wi-fi network has a safety net built in that will restrict access to sites that would be of concern to most parents.

"Those with explicit adult content will not be accessible through the free wi-fi network," said Dan Devlin of Community Broadband.

Sisters is once again a pioneer town as the first High Desert community to take a step into the territory of free community wi-fi. Travelers who have breezed through Sisters in the past may now be tempted to linger.