[MLB-WIRELESS] Providing free *real* internet access to the community...

Tim Hogard thogard at knotty.abnormal.com
Tue Jul 20 12:41:56 EST 2004


> 
> I'm almost at the stage where I can start setting up a system that will
> provide free internet access to anyone who can associate with my AP. 
> 
> I have asked my ISP whether noncommercial sharing of the DSL is permitted.
> Their T&C has a policy about "no reselling" but I am not sure whether that
> term would be applicable in this case. I figure it's better to do the
> right thing and get a proper answer, rather than assuming they won't ever
> find out. :)
They won't like it.  They sold you and 100 other people 24 gig each
based on most of them not using all 24 gig.

The going rate for a resellable 1mb link in the CBD is about $1000/mo
and $200/mo per mb if you buy a 45mb link.  At $1000/mo it cost
about $10 per gigabyte during peak times and about $3/gigabyte if you
can keep the link pegged 24 hrs a day.  Your 24 gig will cost them $72
not including the cost of getting that data to you.

> Although the access will be free, there will still be costs of course...
> setting up the AP outdoors with a suitable antenna will probably set me
> back at least $500. I was thinking of asking people who use the service
> regularly for donations to help cover capital equipment costs (upgrades,
> repairs etc), but with the actual internet access being completely free to
> satisfy ACA non commercial regulations.

What is free?  There are already many rules on the books about what
is free and what your proposing isn't free.  Research the rules about
amature radio and charging for messages and you will find you can't
do that, and I'm guessing thats teh section of rules that ACA will use
to nail you if they don't like what your doing.  There isn't much
distinction between charing for use of the AP and charging for the
data.  From the gov't point, donations are charging.

However you can run a "hot spot" and charge.  The problem is a hot
spot is that it is limited to any place you can run a wire with out
a carrier license.  So if you have a cafe next door to another cafe,
thats allowed but your hot spot can't cross the road.  So you could
charge someone when they are on your property but have it free off
of it depending on how you want to keep track of if the people were
around or not.

The reasonable way to get around this is cost sharing.  The people
near by can help share the cost of building your node but you need to
help share the cost of building there node as well.  That could be
as simple as you help them set up their stuff and maybe give them an
eithernet cable or some other tangable but cheap thing but the point
is to make it clear that link is there for sharing.

> The access would be provided on a no fee/no guarantee basis. If the ACA
> regs change, or the ISP decides it's no longer fair to share the love
> around, then I shut it down.
Then what are you going to do? If someone chipped in $100 to help you
out, will you give back the cash?  I suspect the law says your trading
if you collect funds and that could be an issue.

> I'm still trying to decide whether to provide unrestricted (unfirewalled)
> access, or limit it to basic services like HTTP and SMTP only. As a
> pseudo-ISP I would probably have to assume some liability for what the
> users do with my link.
Do you know the people who are using the link?  What happens if they
start spaming via your link?  If its unrestricted and they are doing
something illegal, there is an advantage to having it fully opened from
one side but your ISP could hold you liable for their losses if your
network allows them to get black listed.

The current telco law requires that you be able to log the traffic
should someone show up with the right court documents.

Your best bet is make sure the only people you are sharing with are
well known to you and arrange the construction of the network such
that no one really knows who any specifc part belonged to.  So you
get a few guys to group buy a few minitar AP's, someone else to buy
a bit of cable.

-tim
http://web.abnormal.com

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