Connected in Grand Forks

A downtown Wi-Fi initiative through the local Rotary club has brought free Internet to visitors and residents of this community

From left: Brian Junilla, president of Rotary Club Peachland; Wendy McCulloch, Rotary president Grand Forks/Community Futures; Angela Soukoreff of Grand Forks Credit Union; Wayne Christensen, president elect of Rotary Grand Forks; and Brian Taylor, mayor of Grand Forks, are among those who are pleased to help provide Wi-Fi to the community. — Photo courtesy Wayne Christensen

Visit a café or park in downtown Grand Forks and you’ll be able to read an article online or send a tweet courtesy of free Wi-Fi. In a forward-focused move, the city, the local Rotary club, Community Futures and the Grand Forks Credit Union have joined forces to provide visitors and residents of the area with Internet in the downtown core.

“(The initiative is a) way to get Rotary involved within the community and have youth responding to that,” said Wayne Christensen, who was serving as director of community services with Rotary Grand Forks when the Wi-Fi project was in the works.“We also have community efforts to attract and draw people into the downtown core through the use of Wi-Fi—getting that word out and advertising with signage to let people know that this is a free-Wi-Fi zone. They can come in and park—they can go to the restaurant or use local businesses. It’s just something that will also help with the local economy and hopefully generate some traffic into the different businesses that we have here.”

The Wi-Fi idea

The idea was first hatched when Dave Marshall, director with Community Futures Boundary, visited Peachland and heard a radio interview with the president of Rotary Club Peachland, Brian Junnila, who had been involved in installing free Wi-Fi in Peachland. Junnila was willing to offer his tech expertise and services as a designer on behalf of Rotary, and came on board with the Grand Forks Internet project. With success in two towns, Junnila is hoping to create a blueprint that would allow other Rotary International clubs to implement free wireless networks in their own cities. Christensen said that, currently, Rotary is working towards providing Internet in other Boundary communities.

The Grand Forks Wi-Fi service was up and running early in August of 2013. The infrastructure was already in place through the city and school district, meaning minimal cost was necessary. Six access points have been installed to offer Internet throughout the downtown, including the city campground. Rotary is involved in the setup and then another party, in this case the city, takes over with any needed maintenance.

How it all works

Visitors are able to log onto the Internet from any device. There is a limited timeframe, although guests are always able to log right back on once their session has expired. As with most public Internet, inappropriate content is also blocked on the free Wi-Fi system.

As one might expect, the free service has been well received. Even before signage and advertising was installed, the local Wi-Fi was getting hundreds of hits daily. It’s been an impressive effort with many groups in the community working together to bring the power of the Internet to the small town of Grand Forks.