I read an article in the newspaper this past Sunday, apparently Harrisburg is going to be getting wireless! I sent out this notice to the local CPLUG:

There is a very interesting article in Sundays Patriot News (front page of the business section) about the Harrisburg area being served by a wireless network.

Come September, PAOnline will be deploying a beta test of it's wireless network (802.11b). They have a main antenna on Blue Mountain, and will have a bunch of "base stations", as they call them, throughout the county retransmitting the signal. Their goal is to provide wireless service to all seven midstate counties.

You do have to be a PAOnline customer to use the service, but that can cost as little at $10/month.

During the beta test, speeds will be around 128k/s. They plan on offering higher speeds in the future, though they may charge more for them.

This will all be available after Labor Day this year. This will apparently make Dauphin county the largest metropolitan area in the country served by wireless. Very cool :-) I would personally seriously consider dropping a Cable or DSL Internet connection at home for wireless. At that point, you're already paying for a service you can go anywhere and use.

On a sadder note, apparently the Harrisburg City Government will be using our tax money to offer a competing service. Sigh.

So, I might be able to drop by DSL or Cable connection altogether, and be able to wander around the entire county playing with a wireless connection. As the article mentions, this will be the largest metropolitan wireless network in the country. Coolness :-)

Here is the full text of the article.