Lawrence Freenet offers to create free wireless for students

University considers options, need for creating free Internet access

The non-profit organization Lawrence Freenet has offered to donate $750,000 to help the University of Kansas create a free wireless network for students.

By Sarah Neff

Tuesday, November 27th, 2007

Lawrence Freenet has offered to donate $750,000 to create a wireless network that would allow free Internet access to University of Kansas students.

Joshua Montgomery, founding member of Lawrence Freenet, said the organization had been talking about ways to provide coverage at the University since Freenet was founded. He said if the idea was approved, the University could use the money to expand the “Jayhawk” wireless network.

“It would take KU from a university that’s three to four years behind in coverage and turn it into one of the first universities in the nation to provide coverage to its students anywhere in the city,” Montgomery said.

Montgomery said students would be able to use their KU Online ID and password anywhere in town to access the Internet, eliminating the need for students to subscribe to monthly Internet services that cost anywhere from $15 to $50 a month. He said there would be a small fee to the University to cover the cost of service technicians and customer service operators.

Montgomery said Freenet’s goal as a non-profit organization was to create universal Internet access, rather than trying to restrict it by charging as much as possible. He said that each paying customer helped to cover the cost for low-income families. He said the deal with the University would enable Lawrence Freenet to provide service to between 1,000 and 2,000 low-income customers.

James Heaney, Topeka senior, founded the KU Wifi Club to build student support for Freenet’s proposal.

“I think there would be a huge demand,” Heaney said. “I don’t know who wouldn’t want free Internet.”

Montgomery set up a Web site that will soon have a petition for students to sign to show support for Freenet’s proposal at http://groups.ku.edu/~wifi.

Bill Myers, director of assessment and outreach for the Office of the Vice Provost for Information Services, said the University was working on building an independent wireless network on campus with a $2.6 million initiative in collaboration with Student Senate. Myers said Lawrence Freenet had not submitted a formal proposal to the University yet, but that Information Services was in the process of fact finding to discover whether Freenet’s offer would work.

“The goal of providing wireless access to the Internet for KU students from anywhere in Lawrence is admirable,” Myers said. “KU’s Information Services is exploring the viability of doing so in the manner suggested by Lawrence Freenet, but no determination has been made and nothing formal is being considered at this point.”

Paul Knorr, general manager for Sunflower Broadband, said wireless Internet connections were less stable than wire line services. He said if the University found a need for wireless access, Sunflower Broadband would submit a bid for the contract.

— Edited by Elizabeth Cattell

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