Abstract

Title: WasabiNet.org, Mesh-Node Wi-Fi - Successful and sustainable technology integration along Cherokee St.

This is a proposal for installing low-cost Wi-Fi Internet along Cherokee Street using Community Mesh-Node Wifi, for an initial cost of $25,000. Since 2005 large companies like Google, academic researchers, and individual hobbyists have used Mesh Node Wifi to bring inexpensive Broadband access to their communities. This proposal also includes plans for a captive, multi-lingual portal to provide Wifi users a convenient information outlet about their neighborhood, along with a prototype Wifi-driven touch screen public kiosk that offers the portal to visitors and passers-by. The immediate social and cultural benefits will be: Neighborhood-wide Internet access which would help bridge the Digital Divide and connect its residents with essential resources like online education training, job databases, diverse entertainment media, and even low-cost international phone calls. Finally, this proposal advocates placing ownership of the WiFi network in the hands of subscribers themselves, to give them say in how the network is run, and to let them use their collective buying power to negotiate operating and equipment costs fairly.