Service also available at PTC library; coming soon to 74 South rec complex

Citizens can use their laptops and personal digital assistants to surf the Web free of charge on two wireless Internet networks that have been installed at the city’s tennis center and the Kedron aquatic center/fieldhouse.

So while you’re shooting hoops, swimming or working a good volley, you can stay in touch with the office if need be, or just surf the web for fun.

The network is designed to appear on laptops and personal digital assistants as PTC Wave, explained city systems administrator Matt Robinson. A recent network test showed that the download speeds were as high or higher than experienced with home DSL or cable high-speed Internet, he said.

This winter the city will install another wireless access point at the South 74 Baseball and Soccer Complex.

Although residents can use the networks, the city has plans for them to be used by police officers to transmit reports wirelessly back to headquarters from their in-car computer terminals, Robinson said. Code enforcement officers will be able to do the same in the near future, he added.

There is a caveat, however. You won’t be able to log onto the social networking site MySpace.com, one of the sites that’s blocked for security reasons, Robinson said. There are also filters that block other questionable material, he added.

The city also has a third wireless Internet network up and running at the Peachtree City Library. Its content filters are different because that network uses software from the state library program, Robinson noted.

At the Kedron facility the signal covers the fieldhouse and the pool area, although the signal can be spotty when the bubble is covering the pool, Robinson said. The network also reaches out to the outdoor hockey rink, though there are interference issues being worked out due to the metal roof.

At the tennis court, the network covers all the tennis courts, allowing residents to play tennis and stay online, Robinson said.

At the library, where the network was recently upgraded after the initial network was donated by a local company, the wireless signal extends slightly into the plaza where some folks sit on benches to surf the web and check e-mail on their laptops.

The project to wire the tennis center, Kedron and the baseball soccer complex was $14,000, but the actual cost for the public access was just under $8,400.

When it was approved in 2005, one of the envisioned citizen uses was for parents able to watch their kids compete in sports while they remained tethered to the office, able to send files, e-mail or other communications as necessary.

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