Apr. 4--Mark Smith had a front-row seat to the "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" construction this week. He lives across the street.

But that's not what kept him awake Thursday night in his bed. Smith had just learned he and his neighbors would be Indianapolis' first community to get a wide installation of wireless Internet access.

And it's free.

"I was so excited when they told us last night that I couldn't sleep," Smith, 39, said Friday. "I have a laptop, but I don't have money to pay for the Internet."

The Martin University senior studying criminal justice will no longer have to walk a few blocks to the college to use his computer. Residents in about 450 homes in 3.5 square miles of the Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood will have the service, said Dave Strang, information technology director for Estridge Homes, the new home's builder.

Indianapolis Power & Light Co. workers should have devices installed to cover a half-square-mile by May 17, when the "Makeover" episode is to air, Strang said. The area will stretch from Keystone Avenue to Sherman Drive and 25th Street to I-70.

The rest of the network continues to be designed, and a completion date has not been set, Strang said.

Motorola donated each $2,500 device, said Mike O'Connor, the company's director of channels for wireless broadband. Any phone or computer with wireless capability can use the network, indoors or out.

Indianapolis and its suburbs have a fair share of hot spots -- small areas of wireless access, which include some restaurants and Monument Circle -- but none canvasses a neighborhood like this one will, said Jen Pittman, spokeswoman for the mayor's office.

"You can't argue with the educational impact this will have," Pittman said.

Many families in the neighborhood don't have access to computers. Dell and Intel donated 100 laptops for Indianapolis Public Schools students, community leaders announced during a Friday news conference at a gas station with an education center at 25th Street and Keystone Avenue.

There, Carmel-based builder Paul Estridge Jr. gave out laptops to five IPS students, then announced he had a sixth if anyone wanted it.

School 51 fourth-grader Nick Hignite, 9, quickly raised his hand and beamed after Estridge handed him the computer.

"I have my own computer, and I can get on it anytime now," Nick said. "I've always wanted a laptop."

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