Question: Where can I find a listing of free Wi-Fi locations and passwords provided by the city? I am interested in the Chinatown area, Maunakea Street.
Answer: Go to the city’s Web page for Honolulu Hot Zones — www.honoluluhotzones.org — to get free wireless Internet access service provided by the Department of Information Technology and volunteer businesses in the private sector.
“You can see a link that shows a real-time coverage map,” said Gordon Bruce, department director.
“The system expands and contracts” as businesses come in to share Internet access on the Kokua Wireless system or “go,” usually when they go out of business, he said.
Among the locations listed are “Chinatown vendors.”
To get connected, click on a link that leads to the Kokua Wireless website.
It is described as “the equivalent of a neighborhood watch program where those who are interested in improving the community with free wireless access to the Internet get involved in helping to make it happen.”
Under “how it works,” it’s explained that you look for the SSID (service set identifier) — Kokua_Wireless_
Free_WiFi — using a Wi-Fi-enabled device, such as a laptop or smartphone. You then join the network, open the browser to a “welcome” page, then are directed to a sponsors page.
You will have 30 minutes of free Internet access before having to do it all over again for continued access. The Internet connection is “refreshed” every 30 minutes to prevent illegal downloading.
Earlier this summer, Kokua Wireless was among 14 U.S. projects cited in KPMG International’s second edition of “Infrastructure 100: World Cities Edition,” which showcased what it considered to be 100 of the most innovative urban infrastructure projects.
A news release announcing that distinction also said the city “will soon expand free WiFi access to Ala Moana and Kapiolani parks through a private grant.”
“We plan on expanding the system but need to go through the gift resolution process with City Council before we can spend the money on the expansion,” Bruce said.
“This will take about two to three months, then we will need to coordinate the installation.”
Kokua Wireless began in 2005 when Bruce and Aryn Nakaoka, president of Tri-net Solutions Honolulu, “launched the idea of businesses sharing their internet access via antennas,” according to the news release.
In exchange for participation, businesses receive free advertising.
Waiale‘e Re-created
Stafford-Ames Morse, who spent part of his childhood in the 1940s on the grounds of the old Waiale‘e Training School for Boys, has heard from several people since we described what previously sat on the site of the current Crawford’s Convalescent Home on the North Shore (See is.gd/raHBBj).
They include the daughters of the head of the old boys reformatory, as well as two men who were sent to the school as boys.
He’s hoping that more people who remember growing up in Waiale‘e will contact him as he tries to re-create an “important part of Hawaii history forgotten.”
He can be contacted at MorseSA@hotmail.com.
Mahalo
To a very kind and caring man. About 5 p.m. July 30, my friend in her wheelchair and me on my walker were at Ward Avenue and Kapiolani Boulevard trying to cross when my friend’s wheelchair stalled. A driver started blasting his horn, as if it was our fault. May he get blessed this way when he gets old. What goes around comes around. Then a kind man, an angel actually, saw us in distress, parked his car in the Blaisdell Center parking lot and came to help us. In all the commotion, we forgot to ask his name. Thank you so very much. We’re glad there are people like you in the world to make up for people who have no patience! — Lea & June
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Write to “Kokua Line” at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
