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

Brian Jinks bjinks at optusnet.com.au
Wed Jul 21 10:14:12 EST 2004


On Wed, 21 Jul 2004 08:42 am, Ryan Abbenhuys wrote:
> The issue here is people providing internet access under the guise of
> Melbourne Wireless.
>
> What they do on their own unaffiliated wireless networks is none of our
> business.  When the network is claimed to be part of the Melbourne Wireless
> network and it is potentially breaking ACA regulations or similar, then
> there is an issue and it affects the rest of the members and the committee.
>
> Melbourne Wireless was not created with the intention of providing free or
> cheap wireless internet access. Until such time as there is a clear-cut
> stance from the regulatory bodies on this I would be very wary of this.
> Australia's internet industry is very different to that of the US where a
> wireless hotspot running from every 5th house may be acceptable.
>


I think it's about time everybody went back and read the original post.
There was no mention of this Internet access being promoted under the 
Melbourne Wireless name, the only mention of Melbourne Wireless is that the 
question was posed to the Melbourne Wireless list.
As for asking people who use the access to donate, this was for help in paying 
for the equipment that would be used and it was for a donation, not a cost of 
using the access.
I think it is very similiar to using a Linux distribution.
I have tried a number of different distributions downloaded from the Internet. 
I know I can use them for free but when I decided to use one particular 
distribution, I then went on to buy the "official" disks as my way of 
donating to the cost of developing the distribution that I am using.
There are many other similiar models to what Rowan is proposing that appear to 
work. I'm sure that if everybody thinks about it, they will come up with 
their own examples.
Personally, I commend Rowan for for giving some thought to this issue. Instead 
of thinking, as so many do, of how to make a dollar from something, he is 
trying to share something that he has at little or no cost.
How rare is that these days?

Brian.

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