Finally, wireless aficionados, Case Western Reserve University has big news on the free public wireless front. Steven Organiscak, Case's project manager for integrated technology planning, announced yesterday that Case has completed its 802.11g forklift. Yup, 1315 (count 'em) 802.11g free public wireless services available at 54 Mb/sec along with VPN access for Case staff, students, and faculty for tunnel access to the University. It's the biggest public wireless deployment of 802.11g in the nation.I'm a little bit confused. As far as I can tell, almost all of these access points are inside university buildings, to be used by people who are there on Case business (including "guests"). There's outside access in the academic quadrangle, but this is also on University property where, presumably, random members of the public aren't encouraged to hang out with their laptops. The only CWRU access point that actually serves a public place is the one at Wade Oval.
Am I wrong about this? Can I walk down Euclid, Ford or Wade Park and connect to the Case guest network? Or is "public" just another word (like, say, "community") that means whatever I want it to mean?