Wind Wireless Inc. and Cutting Edge Communications Inc., both of Spokane, have teamed up to launch free wireless Internet service in the downtown area.


Winds chief technical officer, Bob Kirkpatrick, says the high-speed, wireless-fidelity, or Wi-Fi, service is available throughout Riverfront Park, and along downtown sections of Spokane Falls Boulevard, Main Street, Riverside Avenue, and part of First Avenue. He says it will be expanded to include the area along Sprague Avenue to Spokane Valley and the area along Division Street to just past NorthTown Mall by the end of the summer.


The idea is to create a utility for wireless customers in commercial areas thats absolutely free and doesnt have limited connection speeds, Kirkpatrick says.


In March, OneEighty Networks Inc., of Spokane, began charging users of the 100-square-block SpokaneHotZone Wi-Fi service $6.95 after the first two hours of use each day. Several high-tech companies, the Downtown Spokane Partnership, and the City of Spokane launched SpokaneHotZone in 2004 and initially didnt charge wireless users for it.


We have no intention of ever charging for our service, Kirkpatrick says. He says Wind and Cutting Edge are redirecting some of their revenues back into the community to pay for the service, which will cost them around $1,600 each per month to operate, he says.


Wind is managing the service, and Cutting Edge is providing the 100-megabyte fiber-optic bandwidth to hook up to the Internet, he says.


The companies plan to offer downtown merchants free advertising space on a series of Web-page directories of local goods and services, which wireless customers also can access for free. The directory will be available as soon as enough merchants place ads, Kirkpatrick says.


Wind provides services, which cost around $40 to $55 per month, to roughly 2,000 business and residential subscribers. It uses an unlicensed radio spectrum to create a high-frequency wireless network and long-range antennas to reach customers in more rural areas. The concern currently is turning on new connection spots near Coeur dAlene and Spokane Countys border with Lincoln County.