Free Network takes on Google Fiber in Kansas City

According to a post on Harper’s the Free Network Foundation’s Isaac Wilder had Google’s fiberoptic cable network in his sights when rolling out a neighborhood wireless network that provides access for a fraction of the cost.

“The one clear rule,” Wilder says of FNF’s philosophy, “is that the Internet should be treated as a commons, the same way that we treat our sidewalks or our air or our water. Everybody’s got a right to use it on the same terms.”

To do this, the foundation advocates the use of decentralized “mesh” networks that rely on microwave dishes to distribute a powerful wireless Internet connection. Wilder calls these dish-and-router assemblies FreedomLinks. Community groups can pool their resources, buy equipment to receive the signal, and distribute it to their residents. Because mesh networks share their signal and bypass the capital expense of installing copper or fiber-optic cable, they’re much cheaper than buying access from corporate providers like Google or Time Warner.

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The Free Network Foundation takes on Google in Kansas City

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