Richmond Free WiFi Blog

As of the date of this post, Clearwire is Richmond’s latest broadband provider utilizing wireless technology operating in the licensed 2.5GHz band. More info about Clearwire’s launch may be seen via Richmond.com - “Unplugging the Competition”

That being said, a Richmond Free Wireless user may actually donate the use of his or her Clearwire subscription service to actually help expand the RFW network. RFW is no way competing with Clearwire or vice versa. In fact, the two networks may complement each other! Clearwire’s image below, via this page on their website, depicts how one might share his or her connection via wireless (where, in RFW’s case, via a wireless node):

In addition, there is virtually no interference between the two networks since both operate under differing spectrum frequencies.

So, that being said, help us expand the RFW network with your Clearwire subscription!

We’ve seen other successful initiatives’ participants/supporters inquire about how they may share their Internet connections for the free access network. Many broadband companies, particularly those currently serving Richmond including Verizon and Comcast, typically do not allow sharing on residential connections. Business class connections may legally be shared, however, these connections tend to be quite expensive and simply not cost-effective for the scope of the freenet initiative.

That being said, we’ve been suggesting if anyone is interested in hosting a repeater, you might want to check with your broadband service provider and find out if you’re able to share your connection. Fortunately, as Richmond Free Wireless does not charge for service, they may allow you to do that. If they don’t, we’ve been recommending SpeakEasy who does legally allow you to share your connection with others.  We’re actually working on lining up a partnership with SpeakEasy via our parent organization, the Virginia WiFi Company.

So, the bottom line is, check with your current provider to find out if they will let you share your network.  If not, check our either SpeakEasy or Covad, both of whom will allow you to share.  Then, let us know when you’re ready to help us out! 

Today is the first “official” launch of our blog. Although our main website at http://www.richmondfreewifi.org is exactly that, our “main website,” the purpose of this blog is to allow our supporters, followers, etc. the ability to submit ideas, suggestions, criticism, etc. about our initiative.

We’ve kept the “commenting” capabilities and hope the anti-spam features will keep the spambots out. If you’d like to assist us in running this site including providing update information on our network expansion progress and system info, feel free to drop us a message to “info at richmondfreewifi.org” and let us know how you’d like to help.

There may be a large gap between the time/date of this post and seeing actual progress as Kory, our lead supporter, is working on relocating back to Richmond by the end of June. However, that doesn’t mean progress has to stop in the meantime. So, that being said, if you’re interested in helping out, feel free to visit our main site above and let us know where in Richmond you’d like to see progress!

Real-time network status information may be located on the following page:

http://www.richmondfreewifi.org/doku.php?id=tech:network_status

Access locations may be viewed on our dynamic node map at:

http://www.richmondfreewifi.org/doku.php?id=tech:node_map

If you’d like to suggest an access location, feel free to submit a comment below or suggest a location via the following page:

http://www.richmondfreewifi.org/doku.php?id=locations:suggestions