Townsend WIFI Park
 | Author:
Victor Sample
Vic Sample: MT43 News Treasurer |
WIFI Park is a small "park" area on Front Street across from the CarQuest auto parts store. It is a small stand of tall cottonwood trees just north of the Copy Cup. The park is maintained by the Townsend Tree Board.
It is called WIFI park because there is free internet access there (donated by Montana Internet). I have seen several people parked there, sitting in their cars or at the picnic table using the free WIFI on their cell phones. Customers of the Copy Cup have also been able to gain internet access through the WIFI Park internet.
About a week ago I received a call from Pat Plantenberg about the internet access at WIFI Park not working. Pat was at the Copy Cup. The owner, Dawn Thompson, told Pat that quite a few customers reported they could no longer access the free WIFI at the park. He asked if this was something BCDC (Broadwater County Development Corp.) could look into, and if the WIFI was no longer available, would BCDC be willing to sponsor getting service back at WIFI Park.
I contacted the rest of the BCDC Board members to relay Pat's message and to see if this was something the Board felt BCDC could take on. John Hahn, BCDC Vice President/Treasurer, called Montana Internet support and found that they have always donated internet access at the park and that the support person could "ping" the Montana Internet router at that general location. That is to say, the router was up and running.
Both John and I went to WIFI Park and found that not only was the WIFI active and available there were people at the park actively using the internet access. I then went to the Copy Cup where I was able to access and use the internet.
The name of the free WIFI network is "Helena Hotspot". The Montana Internet support representative said that as a free service the usage threshold on Helena Hotspot is pretty low. So, perhaps people could not access Helena Hotspot and were being denied service because the usage threshold was reached.
In summary, WIFI Park is working and you can access the internet through Helena Hotspot at the park itself or from the Copy Cup IF the usage threshold has not been reached.
