CLEMSON — The city of Clemson’s technology expert said the terrain of the downtown area and Clemson Area Transit (CAT) buses have hampered Wi-Fi coverage, and that the city is partnering with AT&T to determine a better placement for access points.

Alexias Anderson, information technology manager, appeared before Clemson City Council in July and reported that four relay points for Wi-Fi coverage had been installed at Bowman Field, Keith Street, the downtown parking deck and Catherine Smith Plaza. Anderson said the city has offered Wi-Fi in the downtown area since June.

Though each access point can serve 255 users, Anderson said that strengthening the coverage through two additional relay points, one near Subway and another across the street from Subway, would increase the user load.

But Monday night, Anderson said work is under way to stabilize the system and, in turn, provide an accurate count regarding the number of Wi-Fi users.

“It (access points) is on light poles, and if you get a CAT bus going downtown, it blocks the signal,” Anderson said.

Wi-Fi is widely available in more than 220,000 public hotspots and tens of millions of homes and corporate and university campuses worldwide. A Wi-Fi enabled device, such as a personal computer game console, mobile phone, MP3 player or personal digital assistant (PDA) handheld computer, can connect to the Internet when within range of a wireless network.

The coverage of one or more interconnected access points, also known as a hotspot, can comprise an area as small as a single room with wireless-opaque walls or as large as many square miles covered by overlapping access points.

The Clemson Wi-Fi effort is the result of a pilot program City Council agreed to enter into last year at no cost to the city. Although the equipment involved in the pilot project totaled $18,740, Anderson said Clemson did not fund any of that cost.

But Anderson added if the city should decide to incorporate the program, council would have to approve financing before the change could take effect.

Although the upgrade would increase the monthly cost to the city from $100 to $550, Anderson said those costs could be offset by generating revenue, such as through downtown businesses, through the flash page where users log on to the system.