chex5
join:2000-05-24
NorthEnd BOS
clubs:
|  reply to L0GiX
Re: Read the Provider Agreement.
Yeah:
I am currently in a quandry about what to do about providing my newly setup Wi-Fi node myself. I am a computer savvy guy living in a Boston neighborhood, fairly urban, apartment buildings all around me, and I am in a 18 unit-3 story condo, near Boston University. I had been running the propreitary Symphony/Proxim wireless setup, and that system was junk compared to Wi-Fi, I could barely get a signal all through my 1250 sq. ft. apartment , let alone go out to other apartments or across the street.
Now I get a Linksys AP/switch, and the thing is amazing. I get a 1.5 Mbit signal throughout my building, and into the areas around my apartment, and I want to a) share it to my neighbors for low-cost ($5/month) just to recoup some of my connection costs, with the possibility of getting a second DSL line, and b) share a connection for free to occasional people who want to wander in and use access. I am envisioning a unlimited access bandwidth for the people who pay, and tthen I would bandwidth limit the free loaders to say 300-500 kbps MAX.. and maybe connection times, too.. (not staying connected for 12 hours a day, every day.. )
anways, I am stymied for several reasons:
on the pay front, it is clearly against my ISP to re-sell my connection, even if not for profit. Plus if I have neighbors paying there is a assumed level off service that I will provide to them, that I cannot always do... but I would hope for $5/month that they wouldnt assume this, but it could. I have already asked my 3 closest neighbors, and none of them are interested already.
On the free front: I need to advertise my point, and there is no grass-roots nycwireless.org like-group active here in Boston right now, and also, I am very concerned about liability issues, people coming in and hacking my network, sending out spam, posting child porn or causing other illegal mischief that would have the FBI knocking on MY door wanting to know what my IP address was doing 'blah illegal things'...
So... I dont see a good way around these issues, other than one suggestion , which is get 2 broadband connections, and put the free connection on the one you would be willing to lose, and too hope for the best.
This is just where a provider like Joltage could come in, giving you some sort of a turn-key software system that would limit and log access, that you could install on windows and unix servers, and then if there are problems, you could turn to them for help. They also would give the publicity that your site would need to visitors to my area who need access, or just neighbors who might be interested in access. (nycwireless.org is doing this very well right now from what I have seen.. ) But from the looks of things, they don't look all on the up-and-up as you people have observed.. so I will keep looking.
suggestions>?? comments??
Thanks,
Chex in Allston
said by :-0:
If you sign up as a provider the Provider agreement is in a scroll bar with extremely small fonts. Not unusual for some sites but you really need ot real this thing. Its not at all friendly to the provider. It pretty much states the provider has to monitor and maintain all equipment and services on a 24hr basis. Your payments on top of that are 30 days delayed. It wasn't all that clear on how you get paid and what constitutes usage. What if someone is just in the area for a couple of hours then goes someplace else? DO you get paid for that person period for the month or just for the time they were on your hotspot. Its only profitable if your HotSpot is in a extremely computer user populated area.
It does state that you have to get authorization from your ISP to share your Internet service.
I did find something that was on the "WTF" side, under the Provider Agreement It states: "22. Termination by Provider. You may terminate your account at any time and for any reason by providing 30 days prior notice of termination to Joltage by: [method].You can remove your access point from the Joltage location directory by accessing your account at www.joltage.com. Email termination of your basic Internet accessprovider account will not be accepted. Your termination will only be complete when you terminate according to the prescribed Procedures found at the Joltage Web site. If there are sums owing by you which were accrued prior to your termination you may be billed for these amounts after you receive a cancellation confirmation. "
»www.joltage.com/jsp/footer/all_p···ment.jsp
Can you believe this thing?
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