Nine years ago some wires were cut.

The Wi-Fi Alliance, a nonprofit international association, was formed to help regulate and further the use of wireless Internet around the world. Now wireless Internet, or Wi-Fi, is everywhere. Laptops, smart phones, and iPhones can access the Internet from almost anywhere.

Three years ago, Lawrence Freenet was formed.

Joshua Montgomery, a founding member of Freenet, said the ultimate goal is to provide broadband Internet free of charge to everyone in Lawrence including KU students.

Freenet recently made a proposal to the University to provide free wireless Internet access to all students. To achieve that goal, Freenet promised to give $750,000 to improve on-campus connectivity, $1.3 million for underground fiber-optic cables for the University, and $4.3 million to help improve Freenet’s existing network city-wide. In this proposal, Freenet also promised phone support, tech support, and a 1-megabit per second (mbps) speed minimum.

Montgomery and J.D. Heaney, Topeka senior and president of the University’s Wi-fi Club, both said the University turned down their proposal two weeks ago. The group has been working with Freenet on the KU project,

“We have very little or no cooperation from KU,” Montgomery said.

Heaney and Montgomery said the University turned down the offer prematurely without serious consideration. Heaney said the University did not set up a meeting with the Wi-fi Club in order to gauge student reactions.

“I was saddened to hear that the University had turned down the proposal in such a short time frame,” Heaney said.

Bill Myers, the assessment coordinator for KU information services, emphasized the fact that much of the campus is already wireless. Wescoe Hall and Fraser Hall were recently made wireless. Malott Hall, Murphy Hall, Haworth Hall, and Summerfield Hall will have wireless access by the end of January.

Myers said the Freenet proposal did not directly address the priorities of the University, which is to make all classrooms and labs wireless.

Myers said Student Senate approved $1.3 million for a project to equip those academic areas.

He also said that demand for wireless Internet all over campus, including residence halls, was not clear from the student body. Myers said that KU information services are working closely with Student Senate in order to best deliver what students want.

Montgomery said Sunflower Broadband, the primary Internet provider in Lawrence, hasn’t said anything directly to Freenet. Sunflower Broadband has also recently added a free wireless service for low-income families, and Montgomery said he believes it’s because of Freenet’s efforts.

Sunflower’s Web site said a family of one earning less than $15,315 a year would qualify for the service. That means a student would have to earn more than $1,276.25 per month not to qualify for the free service.

Patrick Knorr, Sunflower Broadband general manager, said the requirements for students might have some exceptions, but he didn’t know. He said that Sunflower Broadband began offering the free wireless service because their company had not found any clients that were benefitting from Freenet’s project.

“We’re doing this to do the right thing,” Knorr said.

Freenet’s Web site said that ten percent of a paying customer’s monthly fee goes to providing free service to a low-income family.

“Do you ask the Humane Society what they get out of placing a puppy in a good home? No. It is their mission, and they win when they accomplish it,” Montgomery said. “As a project whose goal is to build an Internet that is available to everyone, everywhere, all of the time, we win any time more people in the community get access to the Internet.”

Knorr said Sunflower’s free service was not as fast as their regular service, but it was still better than DSL or dial-up Internet access. Knorr also said Freenet’s premise wasn’t entirely free. He said the proposal basically asked the University to pay for service.

“We’re the only company that truly provides this service for free, with no strings attached,” said Knorr.

Freenet currently has 1,200 paying customers and hopes to increase that number to four or five thousand in the next two years. Montgomery said although the goal is to provide free service to everyone in Lawrence, Freenet doesn’t have the funding to provide that service yet.

­—Edited by Sasha Roe.