Re: Salvaging Unwire Portland

>>>>> "Michael" == Michael Weinberg <[email protected]> writes:

Michael> [...] Food for thought: Russell Senior has long maintained
Michael> that if we got 10% of the APs in Portland switched to open
Michael> access mode with an obvious ssid (such as
Michael> www.personaltelco.net) we would have virtually the entire
Michael> city unwired tomorrow.

Yes.  There is a LOT of 802.11 deployed in Portland (as elsewhere).
Last summer, I determined that there were approximately 2500 wireless
networks in the square mile centered on my house (and that doesn't
seem unusual).  That is 100 times the density that MetroFi is planning
to deploy.  I think that lots of those people would be willing to
share.  We need to identify and address the things that are obstacles
for those people.

Someone recently asked who our biggest competitor was, and I said that
it was "Fear", the fear that sharing might be dangerous and that the
solution to that fear is education.

Michael> Our involvement as PTP volunteers has been predicated on the
Michael> concept that each of us can and should take the steps to
Michael> create the community network we envision. Let's spread that
Michael> idea so that all the other individuals and organizations that
Michael> have visions of a public-benefit wireless network can begin
Michael> to turn their hopes into reality.

Michael> ... [W]e're hoping to get as many of the original Unwire
Michael> Portland stakeholders together for some type of public
Michael> forum. I hope we can convince them that it's a good idea to
Michael> look at what has come out of the project so far and discuss
Michael> what can be done by the community, going forward, to realize
Michael> the many public benefit goals that we all share.

As someone who has spent some time studying the MetroFi network, I
would *really* like to see something like this happen.  PTP was not
very much involved in the steering committees that led up to the RFP,
and it is perhaps a shame that we weren't.  I am very curious to see
how the early visions of Unwire Portland compare with what it has
become, from the perspective of those involved in the process.


-- 
Russell Senior, Secretary
[email protected]

-- 
The Personal Telco Project - http://www.personaltelco.net/
Donate to PTP: http://www.personaltelco.net/donate
Un/Subscribe:  http://lists.personaltelco.net/mailman/listinfo/general/
Archives:  http://news.gmane.org/gmane.network.wireless.portland.general/
Etiquette: http://www.personaltelco.net/index.cgi/MailingListEtiquette