News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Emma Jore works on her tablet using the free WiFi at Cabin Creek Coffee in Downtown Alpena. Few businesses downtown offer WiFi, but the Alpena Downtown Development Authority is exploring the viability of making the amenity widely available to people when they visit downtown.

ALPENA — The Alpena Downtown Development Authority is exploring the idea of offering free public WiFi in the downtown area.

Making the idea a reality, however, could be costly and would require the cooperation of DDA partners.

Around Michigan, there is a trend of cities providing free internet to people in primary business districts, parks, and harbors.

Anne Gentry, DDA executive director, said the idea surfaced and city officials have been researching the viability and sustainability of it. She said at this point, there isn’t a timeline or detailed plans for a WiFi project, but something that could be considered down the road.

“There are cities that have public WiFi, so when you’re out walking or in a public space, you can have access to it on your phone or computer,” Gentry said. “We have talked to city staff to see if it is even a possibility downtown.”

City Engineer Steve Shultz said the city partners with other local institutions, such as the hospital and the Alpena Community College on a fiber pipeline, and any utilization of it to provide wireless connectivity downtown would likely need their support.

He said that providing WiFi outdoors would probably cost a couple thousand dollars, but making sure it worked in each business is where the price would jump.

“It wouldn’t take much to flood the downtown with it, but the problem would be when people are going in and out,” Shultz said. “We would have to have separate units in each business to use it indoors, more than likely.”

Another issue, Shultz said, that is worrisome about providing public WiFi to many people is it could make the users targets of scams, hacks, and other dangers associated with electronic devices. He said people would have to accept the terms of the WiFi’s use and then take their chances that their devices aren’t compromised.

“There is really no way to protect everyone,” he said. “Once you log in you’re taking a chance, because there are going to be using a system that many others are using. You would never want to do your banking or use anything with personal information because it would be hard to make it secure.”

Gentry said right now, there are few businesses that offer free WiFi and she is sure more would like to offer that amenity to customers. She said purchasing the needed equipment and paying the monthly bill could strain profits, however. Gentry said the DDA will continue to explore its options.

“Right now, it is just something we are looking into since the idea was brought up by one of our board members,” Gentry said.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on X @ss_alpenanews.com.