Earthlink’s New Orleans Muni Wi-Fi Launch

This weekend Earthlink came to town. The door hanger you see on the right was hung on my door and my wife thought the sign up price for Earthlink’s Wi-Fi looked great.

We’ve covered Earthlink’s Wi-Fi foray into New Orleans here before, but I have to say, I was really thrilled to see this on my door! They’re here, we have an alternative high speed connection to Cox and Bellsouth, and even more importantly, the company has followed through on it’s pledged commitment to New Orleans.

I’m going to be registering for Wi-Fi access and trying it out. I’ll be sharing this story with the world as an early muni Wi-Fi adopter and also (assuming all goes well) to try to make other New Orleanians aware of the service.

Before I get started, I do have some questions about how it will work.

• Is the access billed on a per-computer basis? Is there a discount for multiple computers?

• Can I reroute the Earthlink Wi-Fi through my current wireless router to let all my computers use the access?

• How is the signal around town? See the coverage map here.

There are a few answers over at Earthlink’s High Speed support page. These are helpful to get started.

So, I look for access through Windows Wireless Manager and lo and behold, its there. Full signal strength too. I double click on it, and I can’t connect. OK, maybe I better call them first for an account. After a second glance at the coverage map, I am in the “coming soon” section at my office, but my house is in the “current coverage” area. I’ll try when I get home tonight.

I’ll be chronicling the experience right here. Stay tuned for more.