By JOSEPHINE MENDEZ
The Herald-Dispatch
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Huntington’s downtown area will soon become even more of a hot-spot for residents and visitors.
Free Wi-Fi will soon be added to the amenities offered in downtown, thanks to a lease agreement approved by Huntington City Council on Monday night between the city and Arx Technologies.
The agreement allows Arx Technologies to rent space on seven light poles for $1 per year per pole in the downtown area for the purpose of installing Wi-Fi service equipment.
The term of the agreement is 10 years, though the city is allowed to terminate the agreement should the Wi-Fi cease to remain free to the public, City Attorney Scott Damron said.
Wiley said the Wi-Fi equipment will also be mounted on private buildings at five locations throughout the downtown area, giving the company a total of 12 mounting locations for their equipment.
Council vice chairman Alex Vence said the promise of free Wi-Fi will be an added bonus to the downtown area.
“I think it’s a wonderful amenity for us to have available, especially in this day and time where everybody is connected to their smartphone and so much communication is done electronically,” said Vence, who represents District 3, which includes much of the downtown. “I welcome it, and I’m very excited to see it implemented … it’s another amenity and another convenience that I think a lot of people will utilize.”
After getting the green light from council, Wiley said the company will likely begin installing equipment in September. He said it also plans to install signage throughout the downtown area informing people of the free internet service.
Once the equipment is up and running, Wiley said users will access the Wi-Fi through a social media login.
Wiley said the Wi-Fi is intended for temporary use and is not meant to be a replacement for residential or commercial internet services. He added that after a certain amount of time, which has yet to be determined, users will be disconnected from the Wi-Fi and will need to sign in again if they want to continue using the service.
Wiley said Arx Technologies partnered with Cabell Huntington Hospital and Strictly Business in order to implement this project.
Follow reporter Josephine Mendez on Twitter @JozyMendezHD.
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