Bel Air Is Among 5 Places Where Harford Adds New Wifi Hot Spots

BEL AIR, MD — Free wifi is now available at five more spots in Harford County, where residents can use wireless internet in the parking lots outside select county buildings, including one in Bel Air. The Harford County Office of Information & Communication Technology installed the external access points, officials announced this week. People can also still log onto the internet outside Harford County Public Library locations too.

While the buildings are not open to the public due to the coronavirus, people can use the internet outside in the parking lot. Officials said they created the access points to make internet more available to the public given the closure of facilities like libraries and schools.

"For our residents who need or want internet connectivity during this crisis, we expanded the free public wifi normally accessible inside these buildings to the parking lots outside," County Executive Barry Glassman said in a statement.

"We understand this is not the only solution, and our work continues with the private sector on rural broadband," Glassman said, "but we wanted to bring some help fairly quickly and make it available to everyone."

Here's where to find the new wifi access points, which officials say have the strongest signals closest to the buildings:

• Harford County Agricultural Center, 3525 Conowingo Rd., Street, MD 21154
• Churchville Recreational Center, 3023 Level Rd., Churchville, MD 21028
• Fallston Senior Activity Center, 1707 Fallston Rd., Fallston, MD 21047
• McFaul Activities Center, 25 W Macphail Rd., Bel Air, MD 21014
• Havre de Grace Senior Center, 351 Lewis Lane, Havre de Grace, MD 21078

Harford County officials said that users will have to agree to standard terms before getting online. However, no passwords are necessary.

Here is a map with all free wifi locations in Harford County, with the new additions in red:

In addition to these newly added sites, Harford County offers free wifi outside the 11 Harford County Public Library branches and the library's administrative headquarters in Belcamp.

Here are those locations:

• Aberdeen – 21 Franklin Street, Aberdeen, MD 21001
• Abingdon – 2510 Tollgate Road, Abingdon, MD 21009
• Bel Air – 100 E. Pennsylvania Avenue, Bel Air, MD 21014
• Belcamp administrative building — 1221 Brass Mill Rd, Belcamp, MD 21017
• Darlington – 1134 Main Street, Darlington, MD 21034
• Edgewood – 629 Edgewood Road, Edgewood, MD 21040
• Fallston – 1461 Fallston Road, Fallston, MD 21047
• Havre de Grace – 120 N. Union Avenue, Havre de Grace, MD 21078
• Jarrettsville – 3722 Norrisville Road, Jarrettsville, MD 21084
• Joppa – 655 Towne Center Drive, Joppa, MD 21085
• Norrisville – 5310 Norrisville Road, White Hall, MD 21161
• Whiteford – 2407 Whiteford Road, Whiteford, MD 21160

In April, Harford County Public Schools Superintendent Sean Bulson announced a hot spot had been installed in the parking lot at North Harford High School to provide free internet access for those who need it there.

• North Harford High School — 211 Pylesville Rd, Pylesville, MD 21132

"We know that internet access up there is one of our greater challenges in the county," Bulson said. He advised parking in the upper parking lot up on the road outside the high school.

See Also:

• HCPL Receives Grant to Expand Wi-Fi Beyond Library Buildings
• 'We Don't Know': HCPS Superintendent On School Closure End Date