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With the launch now of a citywide wireless service, Grand Haven is one of the first cities in the country where laptop users can access the Internet anywhere in the city -- and even offshore in Lake Michigan.
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Enthusiasts have wasted no time in casting off their telephone-line tethers and putting the service to use. Some are using it to work from their boats. For others, their laptops have become "virtual offices" they can carry across town.

"It's actually blanket coverage across the whole city," Ottawa Wireless CEO and founder Tyler van Houwelingen said Thursday. "We're thrilled because that's really been our goal from the get-go."

Van Houwelingen, a former Intel engineer, said the network was tested for months before the official citywide rollout.

In March, the company announced its new high-speed wireless Internet service covered 20 percent of the city -- mostly downtown -- and that it planned to install the infrastructure across the rest of the city.

Now that it's ready citywide, customers can receive wireless Internet in their homes, in downtown restaurants, at the beach and several miles offshore on Lake Michigan.

Richard Lubbers, owner of Hitspring Interactive and Ottawa Wireless' Web designer, has been using the service to work from his boat.

"That ability to just get away from the everyday work environment, sometimes it can make you work harder and sometimes it can allow you to become distracted," he said.

Realtor Denny Van Hall also has been able to take his work with him with the new service.

"I can take my computer anywhere in the city," he said. "It's like taking my office with me."

Eventually, the Ottawa Wireless network could offer telephone, television and subscription music services, van Houwelingen said. The telephone service, which would require the purchase of special equipment, could be ready by summer's end, he said.

To access the wireless service, users must add a wireless chip or card to their computers, which will detect the wireless radio waves and prompt the user to log in to the subscriber service.

The company has installed dozens of antenna receivers on telephone poles throughout the city.

An antenna for home or business service allows users to carry laptops from room to room without being tethered to a telephone line or cable. Van Houwelingen said the network could be available in Grand Haven Township in 2005. Negotiations are under way to bring it to select portions of Ferrysburg, as well. He said he is exploring bringing the service to Muskegon.

Ottawa County also is considering going wireless.

A task force this month began determining whether a countywide wireless network covering rural areas without broadband Internet service is feasible.

The federal government has expressed interest in funding a demonstration wireless project in Ottawa County and may contribute as much as $500,000 toward it.

Copyright © 2004. The Grand Rapids Press.