Informant38

in Urbana

Sam Smith, tied to the harpoon-

"I saw your comment about wanting more info on wifi systems in today's edition of Undernews. Here in Urbana, IL, we are in the process of building a community wireless system to provide ubiquitous (and free to the user) wifi access.
Assisted by a recently won $200,000 grant, the nearly three-year old project is now expanding from a test network that has tested initial software and hardware configurations into a system that will have at least 50 nodes. The city of Urbana is participating by allowing access to city infrastructure (such as locations on city buildings and, soon, light poles).
Eventually, it is hoped that the model developed can be exported to Third World areas to improve internet access, as well as to any community that organizes to build such a network. The project is fiscally sponsored by the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center."
[Today's Wall Street Journal has a column on Verizon's wireless plans, which by contrast would cost you $80 a month]

UNDERNEWS Apr.13.04