Wi-fi guy gets a fair chance

Anyone with a smartphone or tablet computer knows the drill: When you need a fast connection to the Internet, you find a Wi-Fi hot spot. That's fine with Duran Johnson, the well-traveled president of DragNFly Wireless Inc. of Eden Prairie (MN), who puts free Wi-Fi hot spots in restaurants, athletic clubs and shopping centers, and this year will provide free Wi-Fi at the Minnesota State Fair. Last week, Johnson was in midtown Manhattan visiting a customer -- Equinox -- an athletic club chain that offers DragNFly's Wi-Fi service free to its customers. Never afraid to hustle business, Johnson's nine-year-old company made a bid to install Wi-Fi at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport earlier this year. He was passed over for a Miami firm with previous airport experience. But that unsuccessful bid caught the eye of State Fair officials, who agreed to have DragNFly provide a free Wi-Fi hot spot near the grandstand for fairgoers.