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Wireless Internet has been available since the late 1990's, but has only recently emerged as a powerful tool for access in communities and cities at large. However, this has not gone unnoticed by parties that perceive a potential threat to the established order of Internet players. As the clash of interests grows, governments have been getting involved through policy and regulation to help bring balance to the social and economic issues. In this paper, the author attempts to put these issues in to a clearer perspective by summarizing the landscape as it pertains to wireless Internet access from the North American perspective.

"This book highlights the successes of community wireless networks but also boldly addresses the potential risk factors and broader socioeconomic concerns, exploring previous successes and failures, various designs, and potential challenges with CWNs"--Provided by publisher

International audience ; This article focuses on the possible implications of the McFadden decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on the development and sustainability of community networks (CNs). CNs provide internet connectivity through open wi-fi, normally based on distributed infrastructure and wireless technologies, that enable users to create an open, community owned and run, network. CNs constitute a grassroots alternative to commercial internet service providers (ISPs): as infrastructure commons, they have the potential to be participatory, democratic, and more respectful of communications privacy. The possibility of offering open wi-fi is one of the main issues at stake in the McFadden case. This article explains how the CJEU decision is likely to affect the fate and the design of CNs. Particular attention is paid to the effect of the decision on the organisational shaping of CNs in Europe and structural changes CNs may have to consider implementing: (a) the donation policy, the fee or absence thereof, as the decision refers to the commercial status of providers; (b) the legal status (network operator, intermediary, internet service provider) and the existence of a legal representative, or the absence thereof in the case of very decentralised CNs; (c) possible warranties and disclaimers contained in the service Terms of Use; (d) the technological decentralised architecture, impacting and impacted by possible password, data retention and registration obligations. After describing what are CNs and how they work (part 2), the article presents the liability challenges for CNs and in particular the hurdles to assign liability (part 3) and the specific situation of the 'Störerhaftung', the legal doctrine that provides that a wi-fi operator is responsible for users' wrongdoings in Germany, the jurisdiction of origin of the McFadden case. The article then analyses in detail the McFadden decision (part 4) and its implications for the organisational shaping of CNs according to selected ...

International audience ; This article focuses on the possible implications of the McFadden decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on the development and sustainability of community networks (CNs). CNs provide internet connectivity through open wi-fi, normally based on distributed infrastructure and wireless technologies, that enable users to create an open, community owned and run, network. CNs constitute a grassroots alternative to commercial internet service providers (ISPs): as infrastructure commons, they have the potential to be participatory, democratic, and more respectful of communications privacy. The possibility of offering open wi-fi is one of the main issues at stake in the McFadden case. This article explains how the CJEU decision is likely to affect the fate and the design of CNs. Particular attention is paid to the effect of the decision on the organisational shaping of CNs in Europe and structural changes CNs may have to consider implementing: (a) the donation policy, the fee or absence thereof, as the decision refers to the commercial status of providers; (b) the legal status (network operator, intermediary, internet service provider) and the existence of a legal representative, or the absence thereof in the case of very decentralised CNs; (c) possible warranties and disclaimers contained in the service Terms of Use; (d) the technological decentralised architecture, impacting and impacted by possible password, data retention and registration obligations. After describing what are CNs and how they work (part 2), the article presents the liability challenges for CNs and in particular the hurdles to assign liability (part 3) and the specific situation of the 'Störerhaftung', the legal doctrine that provides that a wi-fi operator is responsible for users' wrongdoings in Germany, the jurisdiction of origin of the McFadden case. The article then analyses in detail the McFadden decision (part 4) and its implications for the organisational shaping of CNs according to selected ...

This paper examines Municipal Wireless (MW) deployments in the United States. In particular, the interest is in understanding how discourse has worked to mobilize widespread support for MW networks. We explore how local governments discursively deploy the language of social movements to create a shared understanding of the networking needs of communities. Through the process of "framing" local governments assign meaning to the MW networks in ways intended to mobilize support and demobilize opposition. The mobilizing potential of a frame varies and is dependent on its centrality and cultural resonance. We examine the framing efforts of MW networks by using a sample of Request for Proposals for community wireless networks, semi-structured interviews and local media sources. Prominent values that are central to a majority of the projects and others that are culturally specific are identified and analyzed for their mobilizing potency.

Despite the technological advances made in recent years, plans and strategies of the Colombian Government and contributions of private enterprise, there are still many territories in Colombia without internet connection and specifically schools that continue to apply traditional methodologies in education. The Rural Educational Institution of Mambita, located in the Municipality of Ubalá - Cundinamarca, does not escape from this reality. In the context of the pandemic that began in 2020 and the quarantine strategy decreed by the Colombian government during 2020 and 2021, the need to have a network for the interconnection of its educational community became evident, including students, teachers, school administrators and parents. But due to the lack of economic resources available to the Universidad Libre, in the framework of a research project, the researchers faced the need to design wireless antennas that would allow the design of a MESH wireless network for the educational institution and that such design would allow to reduce costs, thereby seeking to benefit through innovations and contributions to the design and implementation of the MESH network to the Mambita Police inspection. Consequently, the antenna was designed using specific materials that significantly reduced costs and obtained an antenna that through the application of tests allowed to verify a range of 350 meters, which is quite significant, since in the market antennas are available with a range of no more than 300 meters.

Some public elites assert that the digital divide is a serious social problem and that governments must intervene by affording wireless solutions to improve this social ill. Few studies, however, examine the relationship between the claims-making activities around such interventions, specifically in reference to closing the digital divide, and the perceptions of the actual impact of those initiatives on this divide. We bring together two data sets. The first dataset is from a previous study examining the public rhetoric surrounding these initiatives vis-à-vis the digital divide. The latter is part of a much larger study on the network's impact on the divide. We conclude that these networks are necessary but insufficient in bridging the gap.

This field note examines the development of a major municipal Wi-Fi service and how its private-sector financial and governance model has reduced its potential benefit to the public. It discusses the case of Toronto Hydro Telecom, a publicly owned corporation, and its One Zone WiFi project, which appears to be faltering despite initial optimism and technical success. Had the company chosen to pursue a more publicly oriented model, rather than a commercial competitor approach, it could be using the same technologies and publicly-owned assets but yielding much greater financial and social benefits in the long term. In this regard Toronto Hydro Telecom can serve as a cautionary tale that encourages other municipal governments with similar assets to take a different route.

Abstract
This paper addresses two policy questions. Firstly, how might evolving technologies associated with broadband networks enhance or hinder marginalized or underserved population groups' effective use and access to information resources? Secondly, how can we foster public hybrid broadband, situating broadband networks within existing communities, as a means to promote digital self-determination? This study finds that wireless mesh technology initiatives can create and foster community engagement through infrastructure deployment, maintenance and use; combat myths regarding marginalized demographics and technology, and provide marginalized communities with an opportunity to become decision-makers regarding communications technology infrastructure development.

Abstract
This paper addresses two policy questions. Firstly, how might evolving technologies associated with broadband networks enhance or hinder marginalized or underserved population groups' effective use and access to information resources? Secondly, how can we foster public hybrid broadband, situating broadband networks within existing communities, as a means to promote digital self-determination? This study finds that wireless mesh technology initiatives can create and foster community engagement through infrastructure deployment, maintenance and use; combat myths regarding marginalized demographics and technology, and provide marginalized communities with an opportunity to become decision-makers regarding communications technology infrastructure development.

©2014 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works. ; In wireless community networks, backbone pointto-point links concentrate most of the traffic. Thus, these links are crucial for the overall performance of the network. Network managers have to constantly test and maintain these links to optimise their performance, but their decisions are often based upon rumours or a purely theoretical knowledge of the technologies being used. These sources of information can be very biased and can lead to incorrect decisions in such complex systems. In this work we provide the guidelines to help in wireless links optimization by covering the most common mistakes or questions, and by addressing the critical factors one by one using a real scenario. In our experiments we analyse critical characteristics such as the interference among links, the relation between channel bandwidth and throughput, the impact of output power, and the effect of antenna proximity. ; This work has been supported by project P1·1A2010-13 from the Universitat Jaume I, the project TIN2011-27543-C03-01 from "Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación de España" and also by the ERDF of the European Union. ; Perez -Francisco, M.; Boronat-Perez, P.; Manzoni, P.; Tavares De Araujo Cesariny Calafate, CM.; Cano Escribá, JC. (2014). Rumours and Good Practices in Community Networks Wireless Links. IEEE COMMUNICATIONS SOCIETY. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICUFN.2014.6876822 ; S