Hey Folks, great news, the wife bought me a laptop for my Birthday!  

Thing is, the critter has got this Vista loaded on it.  My Netscape dial-up can't gronk Vista yet.  So if I want online with this bad boy, it's off to the local wi-fi hotspot for me. ( We can't bloody well afford hi-speed for the house)

But now the big thing is, just where are the best hotspots in the Eugene/Springfield area?  Fourtunately one can search online and pull up a few, but all the lists are hit & miss.  So maybe we should start listing the good ones on here.  I was just at the Spfld Library this morning and everything went off without a hitch.

Right now I'm writting from Bagel Sphere on Main Street (next to the Bi-Mart).  I only know about this one cause they just put up a sign.  Was listed NOWHERE online that I seen.

Understand the McDonalds are a good bet.  You have to watch a little 15 second online commercial to get an access code; but there's lots of Micky D's that have Wi-Fi . (but not all.....like the one up here on East Main Street  The one on Mohawk has it though.)

Understand the Woodsman and the Village Inn have it too - but can't speak from personal experiance yet. 

Ok..this is a good start.  Let's start listing them babies and throwing an editorial in on the experiance would just be icing on the cake.

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An ascendant man, living in a degenerate age, MUST, by definition, live in contradistinction to his times.

I know Allann Bros on 5th St has free wi fi, as does the Hilyard Street location. I've used it, and it worked great.  I think it's courtesy of Clearwire at the 5th St location, and you have to log into a website in a browser, so it might not work for small devices like Nintendo DS or iphones.

Thanks for the quick response, Buzz.

After getting home to the old dial-up warhorse, I found a little list I put together last night, from too much time spent at a search engine.  These I have never used, but somebody, somewhere online said they had Wi-Fi.

Borders

Flying Dogs

StarBucks - VRC especially.

Cozmic Pizza

Schlotsky - W. 11th

Rogue Ale Pub on 844 Olive

5th Street Public Market....(food court I'm guessing)

 

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An ascendant man, living in a degenerate age, MUST, by definition, live in contradistinction to his times.

Hi All.

Via the Internet, there are a LOT of lists available.  The two that I found with the most listings are shown below:

ttp://www.jiwire.com/search-hotspot-locations.htm
http://www.wififreespot.com/or.html

On most sites like this, you can search based on a current location and it will show you the closest ones.  More and more are coming on-line, every day, it seems.  The first one even will show handheld and cell phone hotspots.  Just put in an address, or only the city and state, specify the number of miles to check out from there (5-10), and off you go!  For Springfield, Oregon, there are about 80 of them (Let's see Springfield, Vermont top that!! - Doh!).   The second one lists all that this particular site knows about in Oregon.

Beware, though, that most of these access points are not secure.  If you don't secure you computer, others may be able to see your computer and what's on your disk drive.  Following basic computer security recommendations will keep the honest folks (and most of the dishonest folks) out.

Congrats on your new computer!

Here's a tip for anyone aspiring to use McDonalds Wireless!

You'll need to go to Jiwire to get a link that will take you to a 10 second commercial.  After the commercial you will get a code that will allow you to access McDonalds wireless for 24 hours.  But don't be confused by that 24 hour stuff.  It apparently doesn't mean 24 hours of YOUR using that service. It apparently means that once activated, the next 24 hours can be accessed.  If you activate - run your computer for 5 minutes; shut down....come back in 26 hours....you will need a fresh code to get in.

You must get this code BEFORE you get to McDonalds.  You can't surf on over and get the code from the resturant first.  So you'd best get the code from home, or make sure you got a fresh one while on McDonalds service before you disconnected, from the last time.

The much touted Starbucks wireless requires you already be on a t-mobile service.

Turns out there's a lot to know if you are a wandering wireless warrior.

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An ascendant man, living in a degenerate age, MUST, by definition, live in contradistinction to his times.