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Orlando details digital‑inclusion push: hotspots, 'tables of connection' and Paramore Wi‑Fi design
Summary
Future Ready staff outlined efforts to close the digital divide—expanding a hotspot checkout program, deploying solar‑powered Wi‑Fi picnic tables, designing a Parramore public Wi‑Fi overlay and piloting senior VR—while councilors raised maintenance and equity concerns.
City staff presented a suite of digital‑inclusion and Future Ready projects to the Orlando City Council on April 21, including an expanded device checkout program, solar‑powered "tables of connection," neighborhood Wi‑Fi in Parramore and a senior virtual‑reality pilot.
Evan Novell, Future Ready initiative manager, said roughly 20% of Orlando households lack high‑speed Internet access and the office aims to connect 10,000 additional households. Novell described a relaunch and expansion of a hotspot and tablet checkout program to 17 city locations; the program will also include laptop donations for qualifying residents and a free digital‑literacy…
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