The Town of Wilton is now providing free wireless Internet computer service at the Town Hall on Traver Road and Gavin Park off Jones Road.

   “More and more people today are utilizing it,” said town Supervisor Arthur J. Johnson about wireless computer service.

   People who use laptop computers or smaller hand-held computers with wireless antennas in them are able to connect to the Internet without being connected to a telephone line or a cable line.

   “We are just trying to make the town more user friendly to the residents,” Johnson said on Tuesday.

   Johnson added that equipping the Town Hall at 22 Traver Road and parts of Gavin Park with the wireless service was “relatively inexpensive.”

   Jeffrey Reale, town comptroller, said it was quite easy to provide wireless Internet service in the Town Hall.

   He said a cable was run from the Town Hall basement to the first floor and this was connected to wireless equipment that broadcasts the appropriate signal.

   Spa.Net of Saratoga Springs, the company that developed and hosts the town’s Web page, helped the town install the wireless system.

   “We just ordered stickers for the doors,” Reale said about stickers that proclaim that the Town Hall and parts of Gavin Park are wireless locations.

   Both gyms in Gavin Park are currently wireless. In recent days, free wireless service has also been provided to the pavilion and playground areas at the town park, Reale said.

   Reale said converting the Town Hall to a wireless site cost less than $500. He said it cost between $1,500 and $1,800 to create wireless computer service at Gavin Park.

   At Gavin Park the computer specialists had to install a small antenna that broadcasts the wireless Internet signal.

   “The antenna shoots the signal out to the playground and the pavilion,” Reale said.

   Reale said next year he will propose another antenna system that would send the wireless Internet signal directly to the main baseball and softball fields in the park.

   Johnson said that now parents can attend their children’s basketball or volleyball game in one of Gavin Park’s gyms and still use their laptop or handheld computer to check and send e-mail.

   Or they can have a picnic with their loved ones in the park pavilion but still read and send e-mail or consult the Internet, he said.

   Reale said the wireless service is being provided for the public. He said town employees use a secure computer network for all their town-related computer work. He said this system is not wireless.

   The town is also updating and improving its Web site (www.townofwilton.com) on a regular basis, Reale said.

   He praised Town Hall receptionist Carrie Fisher for keeping messages, agendas and other information current on the Web site.

   “She posts the meetings,” Reale said.

   He said various town departments provide Fisher with agendas, meeting notices, and other public information and she posts the information on the Web site.

Reach Gazette reporter Lee Coleman at 587-1780 or at lcoleman@dailygazette.net