Shreveport Times: Shreveport partners with library to offer free in-home internet

Makenzie Boucher, Shreveport Times

On a windy Monday morning the City of Shreveport it will be partnering with Shreve Memorial Library to provide free internet.

"I have been waiting on this for a very long time," said Mayor Adrian Perkins. "This is so important to me and is one of the first things that I thought about running for office. Everybody wants access to reliable high-speed internet."

The City of Shreveport’s I.T. Department created a sensor and mounted them on our garbage trucks to map where the internet had been adopted and where it wasn’t. In Shreveport, the internet is not affordable for many who earn $35,000 or less, which is 42.8 percent of our residents.

This service will launch on Nov. 1, and will be available to all citizens who are cardholders at the Shreve Memorial Library. Three library locations are offering the equipment at this time.

Locations:

• Atkins Shreve Memorial Library- 3704 Greenwood Road

• Hollywood Union Shreve Memorial Library- 2105 Hollywood Avenue

• Wallette Shreve Memorial Library- 363 Hearne Avenue

Each participating library will be equipped with a tower that will provide universal digital access using a newly developed city cellular network. Participants who want to take advantage of this free internet will be equipped with a kit that will include a modem and window mount that can be easily installed.

"When you get home, you plug this in, turn it on and you have a WiFi network in your home connected to the internet at the library," said Keith Hanson, City of Shreveport’s chief technology officer.

Hanson said that each library will be equipped to service from 500 to 1,000 homes within their coverage area.

The funding for this project was accomplished through the American Rescue Plan (ARP) and the library.

Read the original article here.