CZfree.net

http://www.boingboing.net/2002/09/09/czech-republic-seced.html
Czech republic secedes from telcos with WiFi
Posted by Cory Doctorow, September 9, 2002 6:59 PM | permalink
Great article on a grassroots Czech movement to secede from the corrupt telco monopoly by putting wireless access-points on roofs across Prague.

"The connection is already built, and it's real broadband, guaranteed connection, so the issue of Internet connection is solved," Janda said.

TransgasNet's head of product management Radek Majer said that the company has a commercial contract with one of CZFree.net's members on the connectivity supply. The contract doesn't include the access route fee because the connection to TransgasNet's node is wireless. He said that although CZFree.net's connectivity comes from TransgasNet, the company doesn't provide the services directly to customers of CZFree.net because the network is independent from the company. However, CZFree.net can indirectly raise the number of customers who will be able to connect to TransgasNet's backbone access, Majer said.

"The good side of the project is that it can connect a lot of people, and the [backbone] connectivity is relatively cheap," Janda said. The price of the connectivity is then shared between the users, with no extra fees.

There are currently around 15 to 20 functioning nodes in Prague, and the actual number of users is still probably fewer than 100, although an exact count is impossible. However, the nature of the network makes it very easy to connect to (especially for users with laptops and Wi-Fi cards), and another 320 users are in line to put up their own nodes.