Lawrence Freenet plans to begin offering telephone service in addition to a new video service allowing paying subscribers to watch television programming through the Freenet Wi-Fi network.

Freenet will join AT&T and Sunflower Broadband as the three major providers of video, telephone and broadband services in Lawrence.

“Our membership has been asking us for the ability to deliver phone and video service for some time now,” Joshua Montgomery, Lawrence Freenet founder, said.

Montgomery founded Freenet as a non-profit organization and is currently the president of Freenet’s for-profit partner, Community Wireless Co. Together, the two groups are able to provide Internet service to more than 3,000 people in Lawrence.

The name Freenet was chosen because the group’s stated goal is to “build a community in which everyone can access the Internet, anywhere, anytime, free of charge,” according to its Web site. Montgomery said part of the revenue generated by paying members goes towards providing free Internet access to more than 300 low-income residents in Lawrence.

Lawrence city commissioners voted Aug. 11 to allow Community Wireless to offer video service to Lawrence Freenet. The city will receive a video service provider fee of 5 percent of the gross revenues received for all services provided by Freenet within the city.

Montgomery said the group wanted to begin offering a phone and video service to rival the services provided by some of its competitors.

“Cheaper, faster, better service. In tough economic times, that’s what the consumer wants. And that’s what we’re providing,” Montgomery said.

Freenet plans to begin offering the video service to part of Lawrence in about three months, if everything goes as planned, although the exact size of the service area is unknown at this time. Subscribers will be required to rent or purchase a box that can be connected to an Ethernet port or connect wirelessly through Freenet’s Wi-Fi network.

Montgomery said he hoped the company could offer an “a la carte” option of purchasing video service, where the subscriber could order any number of channels with individual pricing. Montgomery said the service would offer the most popular and local channels found on a standard television service.

“Instead of paying a $30 cable bill for a package that has 75 channels you’ll never watch, you’d be able to pay a $5 bill for the only three channels you ever watch anyway,” Montgomery said.

Pricing for the service is unknown at this point, but Montgomery said he expected the price of the service to be similar to the cost of other local television service providers.

Freenet’s Wi-Fi network is unavailable on most of the University’s campus, but the group plans to first offer the service to popular off-campus student housing destinations along Emery and West Campus roads, including fraternities and sororities.

“Our focus in the beginning will be on bringing this service to the students,” Montgomery said.

Jacob Sawyer, Winfield sophomore, saw the wireless video service first-hand while relaxing in the Chi Omega fountain during a demonstration put on by Freenet for The Kansan. Sawyer said he would be interested in a wireless video service because it would allow him to move his television all around his house, onto his deck and even to events outside his home.

“The students who really go to the games would love this option because they could watch other games while there,” Sawyer said.

Montgomery said that some areas to the north of campus near Memorial Stadium had coverage and that he thought tailgating football fans would have a use for the service.

Rod Kutemeier, general manager of Sunflower Broadband, said the company welcomed Freenet as another competitor in the market of television services.

“Competition makes us have to be better,” Kutemeier said. “It’s a world where most services are provided under competition.”

Kutemeier said that Sunflower Broadband had considered a wireless video service and that it may be available in the future.

“When the demand is up for a wireless video service, we will have the same thing,” Kutemeier said.

Kutemeier said one issue with providing Wi-Fi television programming was federal copyright law, which does not allow for users to display some types of programming in a public setting. Montgomery said members would be responsible for ensuring that they were in compliance with copyright laws if they used the service outside of their homes.

Freenet also recently began offering 30 minutes of free Internet use on their Wi-Fi network to anyone with a mobile phone beginning with the local 785 area code. The wireless network is currently available in approximately 60 percent of Lawrence.

“We had over 2,000 people use that service in the first 10 days it was offered, so I think that’s pretty impressive,” Montgomery said.

— Edited by Jonathan Hermes