There’s a quiet grassroots movement growing in, where else, Vancouver. But this movement isn’t trying to stop clearcuts or educate people on climate change. No, these people are Internet philanthropists. They want to set the wireless Internet signal they pay for — free! So that anyone can use it.
It’s a growing movement called Free The Net. And they plan to take it Canada-wide.
But not everybody’s happy about the idea.
Here’s a podcast of my technology column (which airs across Canada tomorrow) on the topic.
Tod Maffin is a popular keynote speaker, national broadcaster, writer, influential blogger, and uber-nerd. [
6 Comments
Sounds interesting. Have they met up with these guys?
Hi Tod — Some link love from your friends at Spark: http://www.cbc.ca/spark/blog/2007/10/community_wifi.html
Montreal has had a similar initiative running for a number of years:
Website : http://www.ilesansfil.org/tiki-index.php
Blog : http://blog.ilesansfil.org/
Wikipedia entry : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ile_Sans_Fil
From their site :
“Île Sans Fil is a non-profit community group devoted to providing free public wireless internet access to mobile users in public spaces throughout Montreal, Canada.
We believe that technology can be used to bring people together and foster a sense of community. In pursuit of that goal, Ile Sans Fil uses its free public access points to promote interaction between users, show new media art, and provide geographically- and community-relevant information.”
Great piece Tod - quite dramatic!
At the risk of a plug … I recently interviewed Marc Laporte about Île Sans Fil wi-fi and Boris Mann about FreetheNet.ca for Raincity Radio - BTW, Raincity is part of the Freethenet mesh. I also posted a roundup of links (including this podcast) and tech info in the show notes.
Also worth noting that an ISP in Olympia Washington called Zhonka Broadband began partnering with community-friendly cafes and pubs in about 2003 to offer free wi-fi hotspots through the city and up the 1-5 corridor - handy for roadtrips!
Re Free the Net movement article: Have you ever heard of Chebucto Community Net? They’ve been working on an innovative free Wi-Fi setup which will include the city of Halifax, N.S. for at least a year now. Check out their site at http://www.plus.chebucto.net for some insights into the nature of their Internet service and community goals, etc. Also, they host a bi-weekly computer information column written by Mark Albermarle and Andrew Wright which is top notch stuff written by people with years of hands on experience dating back to the time when computers and PCs were in their infancy. The column is archived on the site so interested persons or those in need of information can view past installments, choosing from an index the pages they want to access. w.f.
Chebucto Community Net in Halifax is trying to set up non-profit community-run wireless where the nodes are hosted in users’ homes but the connectivity comes from Chebucto Community Net, not one of the commercial providers.
The free service provides web page only access to local Halifax websites - groups, businesses,etc. - as well as access to Halifax municipal government, N.S. Provincial Government and Government of Canada websites.
The Full Service gives complete secure access to the entire Internet over a Virtual Private Network for a Chebucto Plus membership of $100 per year, which we use to fund the bandwidth and other costs. Node hosts only pay $50 a year for their connection. The web address that Wayne gives in the post above is not a good one to use, it is a page that is out of date now.
Chebucto Community Net main site: http://chebucto.ca/
Chebucto Wireless site: http://chebuctowireless.ca/
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[...] Freethenet.ca is a Canada-wide initiative to provide free wireless access throughout urban neighbourhoods by strategically deploying Meraki mesh routers. Gastown is already peppered with the routers, as are bits and pieces of the rest of Vancouver’s downtown core. The Vancouver chapter of freethenet recently sold the last of their hardware, but will notify the public when they’ve got more in stock. Uncle Weed (yes, him again) has more information about the quest for free urban wireless in Vancouver on his blog at Rain City Studios, and if you’re looking for further podcasts about FreeTheNet.ca, look no further than Tod Maffin. [...]