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SmartWAVE Technologies : Confronting the digital divide A significant ongoing project is making free Wi-Fi available in city parks to address affordability and access issues within the digital divide . This is being completed in partnership with SmartWAVE Technologies , a leading wireless centric solutions provider , that ’ s helping the city equip the parks with Wi-Fi .
As a vendor , SmartWAVE Technologies boasts plenty of experience in wireless infrastructure and municipal expertise in other cities and counties across the US . “ Since we ’ ve started working with them , we ’ ve been impressed with their professionalism , their responsiveness , attention to detail and their willingness to work collaboratively ,” Simon notes . “ What ’ s equally important is their understanding of the vision of what all these cities are trying to do - improving digital equities in the regions that they serve .”
As part of their partnership , there is a pilot programme ongoing across nine parks in areas that may not have access to high-speed Internet .
“ Wi-Fi will be strategically located in certain areas of the city to understand what the adoption rate is for a service like this ,” says Simon . “ It considers how many people are using it , what times they use it , does it have an impact and what are the Wi-Fi users doing with this access ?
“ There ’ s another pilot to understand if businesses and customers had access
322 September 2024