Yes its true, by design, the coverage area for the Broad Ripple Hot Spot is not as large as last summer - however, our commitment to offering a free high speed wireless internet connection remains strong. Due to the relocation of our offices it was necessary to remove our equipment. After a short down time we were able to successfully negotiate with a local property owner to relocate our equipment and re-light the Broad Ripple Hot Spot. As our move took place during the winter months, along with limited deployment options for necessary equipment, our goal was to penetrate an area we felt surfers would most frequent and benefit - our focus turned south towards the corner of 62nd & Guilford.

We proudly provide a Free Community Wi-Fi connection that proves itself reliable to an abundant amount of daily, weekly and monthly users. Our intention is not to blanket all of Broad Ripple Village. . . but to lead by example in providing free wireless internet access in a common and convenient Broad Ripple location. Without an office in the area it would have proved much easier and at a significant cost savings to simply abandon our free Broad Ripple Hot Spot altogether. eWireless absorbs 100% of the expense in bringing in and maintaining this amenity for Broad Ripple patrons. We would be thrilled to work with sponsoring businesses or individuals to expand the coverage area or create additional hot spot locations. If interested in helping support the spread of free Wi-Fi please contact us at info@ewireless.com.

We encourage all hot spot users to reference the Broad Ripple Gazette HotSpot Report to identify locations in the area where they can maximize signal strength. Please support these local businesses that are making an investment in bringing you this utility, the internet, and making it available to you at no charge.

Thank you,

Kirby Goble, eWireless

PS: Gadget Girl, sorry you can't pick up the signal in the Patio anymore! With some cooperation we hope to be able to expand our coverage area once again. Thank you for your kind words. . . we feel the same about you. Can't wait to see you out and about at the Midwest Music Summit - I encourage all to go. Without Gadget Girl I never would have known about or heard Rev. Peyton play!

Kirby, I'd like to thank eWireless for clarifying the situation regarding the Broad Ripple hotspot. I appreciate the fact that even though they moved they still provide a free hotspot in Broad Ripple. I think that was a real stand-up thing to do. I am still disappointed that it does not reach where it used to previously, because I was spoiled by the fact last summer that they exceeded my expectations with their coverage using the outdoor antenna. I do understand that they aren't trying to blanket all of Broad Ripple Village (although wouldn't that be really cool?). The Patio is not a hotspot, and is not advertised as a Broad Ripple hotspot. I was just able to get the signal in the Patio when eWireless was upstairs. I really appreciate the explanation from Kirby.

Kristen Leep, Gadget Girl

PS- And he makes a good point- everyone should go to the Midwest Music Summit and see Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band! They'll be playing the MMS on July 23 and they'll be playing the Broad Ripple Blues Festival on July 30. You can find out more about Rev. Peyton and his band at www.bigdamnband.com.

Since we're back on the topic of wi-fi, have you ever needed to look up where you can find hotspots in other cities or countries when you're traveling? There are a couple web sites and computer utilities that you can use to find a place to hop on the net with your laptop.

Jiwire.com- www.jiwire.com - Jiwire lists 64799 hotspots in 99 countries. With their handy search tool you can search by address to find the nearest paid and free hotspots to where you are.

Canary Wireless Digital Hotspotter- www.canarywireless.com - The Canary Wireless Digital Hotspotter is a battery-powered device you can pull out to see if there is a hotspot where you are and its signal strength. Unlike previous devices, the Digital Hotspotter includes a LCD screen that displays the network name, the channel, and whether the network is open or encrypted.

Apple Jiwire Hotspot Finder Dashboard Widget- www.doiop.com/jiwirewidget - If you use a Mac and have upgraded to the latest version of Tiger, there is a dashboard widget that allows you to search Jiwire hotspots without going to their website. You must already be connected to the internet for it to work.

Remember that whenever you log on to a wi-fi hotspot, you should open your browser first, as many services, even free ones, require registration or authentication through a browser page.

Lastly, have you ever tried to send someone a link and because of its length and seemingly gibberish characters, it doesn't work? Or maybe you'd like to send someone an easy to remember link? Well, you can use a service like Doiop - www.doiop.com. It works like a similar site, TinyURL. You go to their site and paste in the long link that you would like to abbreviate and you choose what you want to abbreviate it. So, when the Apple Dashboard Widget Link above was too long to include and have someone type into their browser, I went to the site and pasted in the link and picked an easy-to-remember phrase to forward to the site. Best yet, is that the Doiop link never breaks or expires.