Finally, Intrust Bank Arena is no longer a Wi-Fi wasteland

Long on concert attendees’ wish lists, free public Wi-Fi has been installed at Intrust Bank Arena, the venue announced Thursday.

The arena has never before had a public Wi-Fi network, forcing concert attendees to use cell phone data when in the arena – and service in the arena is slim to none.

The effort to equip the arena with Wi-Fi has been extensive: according to a release, 200 access points have been installed, and nearly seven miles of Cat6 (ethernet) cable and 600 feet of fiber optic cables were used in the installation. All of the arena, as well as areas immediately outside of the doors, are covered, according to the release.

Cox Hospitality Services is the internet service provider.

The project cost $1.1 million.

This new Wi-Fi network will be available starting at the Wichita Thunder season opener Friday.

The lack of Wi-Fi at the arena had long been a source of frustration for Wichitans.

Earlier this year, the Eagle polled more than 250 people on Facebook about their cellular experiences with Intrust Bank Arena, and they used words like horrible, terrible, awful and non-existent to describe current access to internet and cellphone service at the arena, comparing the venue to a cave, a desert island, nuclear bunker or a black hole.

This story was originally published October 12, 2017 at 9:27 AM with the headline "Finally, Intrust Bank Arena is no longer a Wi-Fi wasteland."