Frequently Asked Questions

Mansfield Public Meetings on YouTube

The Town of Mansfield is using YouTube to provide live video streams (and archive access) of many of our public meetings (primarily Town Council, Planning and Zoning, and Inland Wetlands) at https://mansfieldct.gov/video.  YouTube provides a number of key advantages:

• YouTube is compatible with the widest range of personal devices.
• This new channel can support an unlimited number of viewers.
• The stream is optimized to work for both low and high bandwidth connections.
• It provides for a higher quality video and audio experience.
• YouTube is an interface that is already very familiar to most people (it is the most widely used streaming service with over a billion hours of video viewed per day). 

This replaces our former solution (Town Hall Streams).  Town Hall Streams is still accessible for viewing past videos, but YouTube is the only way to view future meetings (live and archive) going forward. 

We encourage you to go to https://mansfieldct.gov/video and click on the link for “YouTube” to view live meetings, as well as to access recordings of prior meetings. 

While you are there, we would appreciate it if you would consider clicking the “subscribe” button (it will prompt you to log in with a Google account.) Subscribing makes it easier to access the channel in the future and helps improve our search results. 

The Senior Center, Public Library, Community Center, Nash Zimmer Transportation Center, and Town Hall include indoor and outdoor free public Wi-Fi for “bring your own device”, as well as free public access terminals (Town Hall terminals are limited to municipal permitting and municipal bill pay). Additionally, we also have outdoor only Public Wi-Fi at Bicentennial Pond Park and Southeast Park.  Additionally, the Senior Center, Public Library, and Community Center also include access to Microsoft Office and printing. The school facilities include free public Wi-Fi for “bring your own device", however physical access to these facilities is governed by school safety guidelines.

Yes! There is no charge for using our Public Wi-Fi and/or our Public Computer Terminals.

Almost all indoor areas of the Senior Center, Public Library, Nash Zimmer Transportation Center, Town Hall, the Community Center, and our Schools are included. Additionally, some of the surrounding outdoor grounds of Bicentennial Pond Park, Southeast Park, the Senior Center, Public Library, Community Center, Nash Zimmer Transportation Center, and Town Hall are also included.

On your device, look for the wireless network called "MnsfldGuest" (our public Wi-Fi network). There is no password and it is free to use. It is a public network so you should not use it for any confidential or financial information. Please review the Acceptable Use policy at http://www.mansfieldct.org/town/wifiau.pdf.

No. Wireless connections are less secure than wired connections. You are advised not to use wireless to transmit confidential information such as unencrypted passwords, credit card numbers, financial records, or any other personal, private, or sensitive information. We do not provide encryption.

No. While the Internet is a wonderful resource, there are some people who use it for malicious purposes to spread viruses, spyware, and malware. We highly recommend that you run anti-virus and security software on your device and keep your software up-to-date to reduce your risk.

At the Public Library, we have filtering in accordance with Federal Erate Guidelines for Libraries, however staff can over-ride the filtering for adults. At our other Town facilities we have slightly higher filtering than the Library, but still a relatively low level of filtering. At our schools we use filtering appropriate for the age-level of the school. Ultimately, some inappropriate content will still get through so we advise you to be selective in the information that you access.

No. We are proud to provide a very reliable wireless network, but we can not guarantee that it will work with all equipment and there may be unexpected outages. We apologize for any inconvenience.

The Acceptable Use text is available at http://www.mansfieldct.org/town/wifiau.pdf. You need to read the acceptable use text as you are consenting to it when you access the public wireless.

We are not aware of definitive studies that have found wireless Internet access to pose a health risk, but users are advised to make their own health decisions and to discontinue use if they feel it is a risk.

No. Wireless users are individually responsible for adhering to Federal, state, and local regulations, laws, and copyright. We may refuse wireless access to users who violate laws, regulations, the acceptable use text, or to any users’ whose activity disrupts the wireless network or is an inappropriate behavior in this facility or its grounds. We are not liable for misuse of the wireless connection.