An independent journal on community networks and public internet access, from the free-net era to local builds today.
Who gets online, and who builds the network
An independent journal on community networks and public internet access: free-net history, the digital divide, and local builds. From the free-net era documented on this domain to the community builds running today.
The three sections
History, access and builds
Each section opens with an index of its guides. Pick the era, the present gap, or the projects answering it.
01Network History
The free-net era documented: what the systems were, who built them, and the community pages they hosted.
02Public Access
Who gets online today and how: the digital divide, library access points and low-cost options.
03Community Builds
Local networks built by their own communities: municipal broadband, co-ops, mesh and how to start.
Section 1 of 3
Network History
The free-net era documented: what the systems were, who built them, and the community pages they hosted.
Network History
What Was a Free-Net? The Community Internet Explained
Free-nets gave the public free dial-up access to local information and early internet in the 1980s and 1990s. How they worked.
A community computer, a modem line, a civic promise.
Network History
Cleveland Free-Net: Where Public Internet Began
From a medical Q&A board to tens of thousands of users: the story of the Cleveland Free-Net, the first community network.
From a medical board to the first public network.
Network History
The Greater Houston Free-Net and Its Community Pages
GHOFN offered Houston residents free internet access and hosted nonprofit homepages from 1997. What the system offered.
Houston's 1997 free-net, from the archived record.
Network History
NPTN and FreePort: The Network Behind the Free-Nets
The National Public Telecomputing Network licensed the Free-Net name and shipped FreePort software. Its rise and collapse.
The federation behind the Free-Net name.
Network History
When Nonprofits Got Their First Homepages
Free-nets hosted pages for churches, charities and clubs: how community organizations first appeared on the web.
Nonprofits published before hosting was a product.
Network History
What Signing Up for a Free-Net Involved
How registration worked on a 1990s free-net: the form, the volunteer review, the login name and the first dial-up session.
Form, volunteer review, first login.
From the archive
Guides that keep this domain's history
This domain was once the Greater Houston Free-Net, a community system that gave residents free access and nonprofits their first pages. These guides document that record, one of them at its original address.
Archive
The Greater Houston Free-Net and Its Community Pages
Houston's 1997 free-net, from the archived record.
Archive
When Nonprofits Got Their First Homepages
Nonprofits published before hosting was a product.
Archive
What Signing Up for a Free-Net Involved
Form, volunteer review, first login.
Section 2 of 3
Public Access
Who gets online today and how: the digital divide, library access points and low-cost options.
Public Access
The Digital Divide, in Plain Terms
Who still lacks reliable internet in the US, what the gap costs in school and work, and where the divide is measured.
Coverage, price and skills, in plain terms.
Public Access
Libraries as Today's Public Access Points
Public libraries inherited the free-net role: free computers, wifi, hotspot lending and staff who help people get online.
The computer row that inherited the mission.
Public Access
Free and Low-Cost Internet Options in the US
Lifeline, ISP low-income tiers, library hotspot loans and community networks: real options when broadband is unaffordable.
Lifeline, provider tiers, hotspot loans.
Section 3 of 3
Community Builds
Local networks built by their own communities: municipal broadband, co-ops, mesh and how to start.
Community Builds
Community Broadband, Explained: Who Can Build It
Municipal networks, cooperatives and public-private builds: how communities create their own broadband and what it takes.
Four models, one ownership question.
Community Builds
Neighborhood Mesh Networks in Practice
How mesh networks share connections rooftop to rooftop, where they work best, and what a small mesh build involves.
Rooftop to rooftop, node by node.
Community Builds
How a Community Network Actually Gets Started
From a needs survey to a pilot node: the realistic first year of a community network, drawn from past projects.
Survey, anchor, pilot, then grow.
The reading room
Outside references worth a bookmark
The Local Loop sells nothing and answers to no provider. These public resources cover the field from other sides: the national build tracker, a working volunteer mesh, and the library institution.
Outside this site
Community Networks
The Institute for Local Self-Reliance tracker of municipal and cooperative broadband networks, with state-by-state legal summaries.
The reference map for community builds.
Outside this site
NYC Mesh
A volunteer-run mesh network in New York publishing its install guides, maps and node documentation openly.
A working mesh, documented in the open.
Outside this site
American Library Association
The national body documenting the public-access role of libraries, from computer rows to digital navigators.
The institution that inherited the mission.