[November 19, 2005] Wireless Internet access coming to Cedar Rapids airport Tweet (Gazette, The (Cedar Rapids, IA) (KRT)) Nov. 18--CEDAR RAPIDS -- If all goes according to plan, travelers using The Eastern Iowa Airport will have wireless Internet access early next year. The Cedar Rapids Airport Commission on Thursday awarded a contract to Dynamic Broadband of Cedar Rapids to install and maintain a system in the main passenger terminal. Dynamic Broadband, selected over proposals from three other bidders, will be paid $34,386 to install the Wi-Fi system and $1,416 per month plus the costs of customer and user support calls to operate and maintain it. Installation is expected to begin Monday and take about 45 days. The airport reportedly plans to set up an area where travelers can place their laptop computers on a table for easier use. Wireless Internet access is popular with business travelers who want to check in with their offices or work on projects while waiting for planes to depart. Many airports across the country offer Wi-Fi access, some for a fee. Wi-Fi access will be provided without charge at The Eastern Iowa Airport. Des Moines International Airport contracts with Opti-Networks to provide its wireless Internet service. Users are charged a fee to access the service. To use the Wi-Fi service in Cedar Rapids, travelers will need a standard Wi-Fi (802.11b) wireless Internet LAN card. Many newer computers have this card preinstalled. If a computer is not equipped with an 802.11b card, one can be purchased from any local computer retailer. To access the Internet, users will need to have a web browser such as Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator installed on their computers or similar devices, such as personal digital assistants. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]