Another question for the galleries...

[kellifer]

Hello!

Another question for the US lovelies on my list. I'm just wondering if smaller US towns/cities would still have wireless cable internet? Here if you're in the country, it's not cabled...

Any ideas?

I'm assuming there is but you know what happens when you make an assumption. You make an ass out of u... and umption.

Comments

[amireal.livejournal.com]

Well... *frowns* Depends on what you mean, most of the US doesn't have large scale wireless, as part of it's infrastructure I mean.

But most bookstores nowadays have it, I know my airport does (v. small. Lexington/Blue Grass, was in the news recently, you might've heard of it *koff*), There's small town and then there's living in the mountains... which is getting more and more cell phone signal each year. :)

I assume you mean wireless hot spots or wifi. Yes. It's been know. Depending on your small town of course and where you are. You've also got to define small town for me. *grin*

[kellifer-fic.livejournal.com]

Just in a fic, someone is using an unprotected wireless to use the net while they're in a diner... was just wanting to check that was plausible.

Not *too* small a town.... something with a couple of thousand people and farms on the outlying areas...

[amireal.livejournal.com]

It's totally possible. Esp if they're rich farms (horses and stuff). Sounds about my local city. I wouldn't be thrown out of a fic at all.

[kellifer-fic.livejournal.com]

Cool... thanks so much!! I know I probably make huge honking fic-related mistakes all the time, but when it's something relatively easy to check, I would rather do that... :)

[sdani.livejournal.com]

My hometown is about pop-3,000 with farmland. They have cable acess, but just within the last few years. There aren't any WIFI hot spots really, unless you plan on hitching onto someones that lives nearby.

[nandamai]

A diner sounds unlikely for free wifi (or any wifi) even in a big city. I'm a city girl and I can't think of a diner here that has it. A cafe (freestanding or inside a bookstore) would be more likely. And when I say cafe, I mean something Starbucks-like, with counter service, pastries, coffee/tea and maybe some sandwiches, rather than sit-down lunch or dinner.

[kellifer-fic.livejournal.com]

I was working more along the lines of the character piggy-backing off an unsecured wireless connection rather than the diner offering one...

Perhaps from someone living above... ;)

[moxie-brown.livejournal.com]

Wifi hotspots in a small town? Might depend on the region, but in some towns in Texas we still can't get broadband through the cable or DSL, so I would feel a bit WTF if I came across it in a fic. I think it completely depends on atmosphere of the town. Cozy and quaint? Mostly farms? Older or poorer population? Hell no. Small town settled by younger families and yuppies? A definite possibility.

[live-momma.livejournal.com]

My dad's cousin lives on a farm, far from any decent sized city, and he had high speed 'net access ages ago (like 10+ years). Meanwhile, I live in a suburb of the state capitol, and we have no DSL (but we do have cable internet). As for the wireless, a friend of mine just moved cross country, and she had access quite a bit of the time in the car.

[eve11]

I live in a small town north of Pittsburgh and there's wireless hotspots around. One of them being our apartment, but we have our network security locked ;)

[libitina]

A diner seems less likely, but trendy coffee shops with wireless have spread almost everywhere I know (east coast).

[miera-c.livejournal.com]

if the town has a university, the possibility of wifi in restaurants goes up a lot (my laundromat had wifi)

[crayonbreakygal.livejournal.com]

Wireless is in more places now! It's unbelievable. I know in my hometown (population 40,000), it's there. I don't know about more remote locations though. That would be interesting to know.

I remember when DSL (that's an equivalent to cable internet) came out, you had to live X miles from the building that provided it. If you lived too far, then you couldn't get it. But that was back in 2000.

[brandinsbabe.livejournal.com]

dude i have no idea, but that last line cracked me up. like crazy. lol. i am easily amused :D
xo

[beatrice_otter]

Some people have unsecured wireless networks in their houses. Colleges/universities will have networks for their students, but they'll probably be secured. On the East coast, in my experience it's far more common to have WIFI networks that you have to pay to use (even in bookstores/cafes/airports/etc) than free ones. In the Pacific Northwest (my home), there's a lot more likely to be free unsecured networks in various businesses.

[stargazercmc.livejournal.com]

Tons of wireless access on the coast of Alabama. It's all over the place here.