IP: SHARE BANDWIDTH, FREE-WIRELESS ADVOCATES SAY: Edupage, September 7, 2001

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Community-minded citizens in New York City and Seattle are
> advocating setting up shared wireless Internet networks in their
> metropolitan areas. Although ISPs are certain to object to this
> activity--AOL Time Warner's Road Runner service explicitly forbids
> retransmission--the benefits to the community are worth testing
> the legal limits of the idea, said Anthony Townsend, co-founder
> of the NYCwireless group. The idea is to let the public access
> broadband connections via a Wi-Fi wireless transmission. The
> signal would be powerful enough to cover a small portion of a
> busy street, or provide high-speed access to homes surrounding
> a small school, for example. Activists in Seattle have set up
> two nodes near bus stops so that residents with wireless-enabled
> laptops can log on. Matt Westervelt of SeattleWireless said the
> goal in each of these cities would be to set up a shared
> city-wide network so that everyone would be able to access
> high-speed Internet connections without paying ISP fees.
> (Philadelphia Inquirer, 6 September 2001)



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