Combs Park in Shalimar becomes the first park in Okaloosa County to offer Wi-Fi

Collin Bestor, Northwest Florida Daily News
Updated ·2 min read

SHALIMAR — A few months after the city of Shalimar installed new playground equipment at Combs Park, the city on April 25 celebrated a new addition to the park: free Wi-Fi for all parkgoers.

In a partnership with LiveOak Fiber, Combs Parks is now the first park in Okaloosa County to provide free Wi-Fi to its visitors.

"We're excited to be announcing free public Wi-Fi here at Combs Park," said Garret O'Leary, content creator with LiveOak Fiber. "Our goal has always been to provide a world-class fiber optic internet (service) to the local community, and this is just the natural next step to make sure our internet service is accessible to everyone."

According to Steve Smith, chief revenue officer of LiveOak Fiber, testing of the Wi-Fi services showed that service users will have internet speeds that rival the service found in most homes, with upload and download speeds of up to 200 megabits per second.

Smith also noted that Wi-Fi services would only be active during the park's operating hours, between sunrise and sundown daily. The service includes a parental filter so kids who have access to mobile devices do not have access to restricted content.

For LiveOak Fiber, the WiFi service at the park is now part of a "pilot program" that Smith hopes eventually will be rolled out to more public places within the county. Ultimately, the service allows parkgoers to try LiveOak's services before becoming customers.

Hurricane Prepardness: Okaloosa County to host "Florida's Greatest Hurricane Preparedness Party" in Shalimar

"Take the Pepsi Challenge," said Smith. "Go over there and try it. Take your phone and try to download some things with 5G service, and then try to download some things on our Wi-Fi and see how that feels. If you like the taste, it will be even better at home on a wired service."

In addition to free Wi-Fi, Combs Park will also see the implementation of new 4K security cameras operated by the Shalimar Police Department, which will hopefully lead to a safer environment in the surrounding area.

This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: LiveOak Fiber installs free Wi-Fi at Combs Park in Shalimar