By Brenna Angel
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Thousands of Lexington residents will soon be able to connect to a wireless Internet connection for free. City officials announced Monday an expansion of Lexington's wireless network.
"There's no password involved. The network pops up just like any Wi-Fi network that's out there currently. This is also a best-effort network, so we're trying to get people who are not online currently, to adopt broadband technology so they can improve their quality of life," says Rama Dhuwaraha, the city's Chief Information Officer.
A wireless network serving the downtown business district and the East End neighborhood, an area from 3rd to 7th Streets and Chestnut to Magnolia, is now operational. A network for the Cardinal Valley is expected to be up and running by the end of the year.
Police Commander Alan Martin says another wireless network for public safety workers will benefit officers in the field, who normally rely on a radio frequency to send information.
"The higher capacity brought by the bandwidth will allow officers to transmit video, it will allow them to transmit photographs without having to either send through a text means or make a hard copy of it and deliver it on-site. That certainly has great potential for investigative purposes as we go about investigating crimes in our community."
Over $1.6 million in grant money and asset forfeiture money from the Division of Police helped fund the project.
Wireless Network Coverage map in Lexington's East End -- Provided by Lexington Division of Police