[ogWiFi] Response to Article - Disconnected in a capital city - 17 May 2009

[Jean-Pierre Fiset]

The sentiments you have expressed in your article (“Disconnected in a
capital city”, Ottawa Citizen, 17 May 2009) greatly reflect mine, since
it is hard to believe that in a city formerly dubbed “silicon valley
north”, there is little WIFI access freely available.

However, it is not because there is a lack of effort by the community.
In fact since 2005, Ottawa-Gatineau WIFI, also known as ogWifi
(http://www.ogwifi.ca), has been fighting this battle. OgWifi is a
non-profit organization dedicated to bringing no-fee wireless Internet
access to the Ottawa-Gatineau region, bringing together volunteers
passionate about free WIFI and innovating businesses that are ready to
share their bandwidth with the public.

While you might not have been able to connect at the Centennial Flame,
if you had crossed Wellington Street, you would have been able to
connect to a free ogWifi hotspot located at the Parliament Pub. Stan
Lithwick, owner of the Parliament Pub, is one such innovator that sees
the benefits of sharing his bandwidth with his clientèle.

The principles behind ogWifi hotspots are quite simple. A business must
possess a high-speed Internet connection that can be shared with its
clients. Volunteers from ogWifi come and install a WIFI router on the
existing Internet connection. The business pays nominal installation
fees (about $100) that covers needed hardware  and a yearly membership
fee of $50, which helps cover ogWifi expenses.

Both hotspot owners and volunteers form a great community. The owners
provide Internet bandwidth to the community and the volunteers guide the
owners in best practices for deploying hotspots. Hotspot owners gain
access to a greater clientèle. Volunteers get to live in a better
connected city.

Once a hotspot is deployed, anyone with a WIFI-ready device can access
the Internet freely. An online map allows users to discover ogWifi
hotspots around the region. The online map and a connection page promote
the businesses that offer the service. Once connected, users of the
service have an open access to the Internet.

OgWifi provides a meeting place for those who want to make a change in
our city, but the battle is far from over. Your article reflects the
biggest challenge our organization faces: we are hardly known. Although
our volunteers have worked hard at trying to gain visibility through the
media and conferences, we remain mostly unknown. Cold calls at
businesses are still difficult since there remains a suspicion that we
are running a gimmick. Why is it so cheap!? Yet, the satisfaction with
hotspot owners is high.

OgWifi not only benefits our community by connecting the citizens of our
region; it also allows visitors from around the world, coming to see our
great capital, to enjoy Internet access outside of their hotel room.
Although it is difficult to measure the impact of free Internet access
on tourism, I believe it is an important one. How many of us have
scrambled to find an open access point while traveling abroad?

All those who are concerned about this issue must step up and request
this service from their favourite hang outs. If you are concerned
enough, you can join our movement. Volunteers do not need to be
knowledgeable in WIFI technologies since we are looking for all sorts of
talents. However, passion about no-fee Internet access is required.

Jean-Pierre Fiset
ogWifi