Naperville Park District offers free Wi-Fi at key facilities

Earlier this spring, the Naperville Park District inked an agreement with WOW! and Digital Lobby to provide complimentary Wi-Fi for patrons at several park district facilities located across the community, and completed a soft rollout of the service.

The park district locations now equipped with Wi-Fi include: Centennial Beach, Centennial Grill, Riverwalk Café, Fort Hill Activity Center and Knoch Knolls Nature Center.

Additionally, Wi-Fi services will be added to Springbrook and Naperbrook golf courses and Rotary Hill by October 2018.

The project came about as a result of many requests received over time from park district patrons, particularly those visiting Centennial Beach.

Between equipment and service costs, adding Wi-Fi to the seasonal facility was deemed to be very cost-prohibitive.

Omar Sandoval, director of information technology at the park district, reached out to WOW! - one of the district's partners - to explore the possibility of making this happen without the need to budget a significant amount for it.

Through a partnership with WOW! and Digital Lobby, the park district developed and finalized a five-year contract to receive free Wi-Fi service and support in exchange for providing advertising space to Digital Lobby's national and regional partners.

"The complimentary Wi-Fi available is a great addition and a service that I am pleased the district can provide to our patrons," explained Sandoval. "It also is a way that people can stay connected to the people and things that are important to them when they're also enjoying recreation time at one of our facilities."

The park district currently is working with Digital Lobby and its advertisers to develop signage for the various facilities that will alert patrons that complimentary Wi-Fi is available in key locations.