This is a rewrite of PersonalTelco (the wiki homepage) as initiated by Dan Rasmussen. It's intended to replace the PersonalTelco homepage as-is, as opposed to PersonalTelcoUnderConstruction, which is an improved, but not yet complete or polished, version of this page. It could use your help!

Removed link to the "u tube" site so wiki would let me save...

You: A Person Curious What Personal Telco is

You may have heard of something called "the internet." We're big fans! We believe internet access should be free, safe, and uncensored. Portland, Oregon is a dense urban area. We think it's a waste of time, money, electricity, and natural resources (links!) for each business, household, and apartment renter to sign up for internet service, wait days for a maintenance worker, purchase or rent a router (link), learn how to configure that router, and then individually help every customer, employee, family member or visiting friend to connect to their wifi hotspot. It can be much easier! Personal Telco is a collection of individuals, businesses, and organizations (Link to sections below!) who share (or plan to share) their internet connection instead of hoarding it. It's also a group of volunteers who want this network to grow. Personal Telco Project is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Portland, Oregon. (Link to "AboutThePTP" page instead of previous sentence? Introductions are important, important to be concise, etc..) You can help us help everybody with a donation of your time, money, or bandwidth (appropriate links). If you don't live in Portland, there may be a similar group near you. (Link! / Wikipedia?)

TODO: Move this section elsewhere on website. Good to mention these benefits but probably best not here...

• Portland, Oregon is a dense urban area. It's a waste of time, money, electricity, and natural resources for each business, household, and apartment renter to sign up for internet service, wait for a maintenance worker, buy or rent a router, configure that router, and then individually help every customer, employee, family member or visiting friend to connect to their wifi hotspot. It can be much easier!

You: A Person Desirous of Internet Access

There are many wifi hotspots around Portland. To use them, you often have to do one of the following: • Purchase a beverage or food. Ask how to get on their network - it's always different! Hope that they know the current password, that you heard them correctly, that you typed it in correctly. Hope their network is compatible with your device(s). • Track down the owner of a hotspot. Ask how to get on. If you're lucky, they know how. Enjoy fiddling with your wireless settings! If those options seem like a bother, you've got one more! A Personal Telco "Node" is where a private individual, business, or other entity has decided to make network access freely available to anybody near enough to pick it up. Simply visit our Personal Telco Node Map, and find a node near you.

• Introduce node concept (definition) - footnote!

• Explain why they're called nodes. This is sorta done here: https://personaltelco.net/wiki/PotentialNodeOwnerFaq

• Benefits of PTP vs. open wifi APs
• Network effects. Describe useful things people can do when on the same network as their neighbors (separate page)
• Node map
• Note: suggest PTP to businesses, organizations, individuals
• Suggestion: thank businesses, organizations, individuals who are using PTP nodes / having open wifi
• These pages could be useful:

  • https://personaltelco.net/wiki/NodePropositionFlyer

  • https://personaltelco.net/wiki/Publications

You: A Geek, Aspiring Geek or Individual Seeking Volunteer Opportunities

Personal Telco welcomes all comers. Whether you're a technology wizard or technically incompetent, volunteering with us is a great way to learn something new, enjoy teaching others, or use your skills to do something useful.

• Mention meetups, email, irc, etc
• Success stories! User testimonials? Dreams come true: jobs, love stories, etc?
• Link to ways individuals can help

• History of project: https://personaltelco.net/wiki/AboutThePTP

• Explain gift economy

• https://personaltelco.net/wiki/Publications

You: Individual With Internet Access

Consider sharing it with your neighbors! There are many benefits to doing so, and only a few drawbacks — most of which can be overcome. Have a look at the PersonalTelcoHandbook to get started.

"They will appreciate it, and might even thank you somehow." Mention potential benefits and potential drawbacks. Probably on a separate page! These pages could be useful:

• https://personaltelco.net/wiki/PersonalTelcoHandbook (is this included or copied: PotentialNodeOwner ?)

• NodePropositionFlyer

• PenguinDayNotes?highlight=(volunteer)

• Publications

You: A Business, Housing Project, Neighborhood Group, or Other Organization

Consider sharing a network connection with your neighbors! There are many benefits to doing so, and only a few drawbacks — most of which can be overcome. Have a look at the PersonalTelcoHandbook to get started. The City of Portland has offered to donate to us some of the remaining hardware from the MetroFi network, the city-wide wifi project that was aborted in 2008. We are looking for partners to help us redeploy this hardware so that it can again be useful. We need bandwidth and places to mount devices. If you can help us with this, please get in touch <info AT personaltelco DOT net>.

The City of Portland has offered to donate to us some of the remaining hardware from the MetroFi network, the city-wide wifi project that was aborted in 2008. We are looking for partners to help us redeploy this hardware so that it can again be useful. We need bandwidth and places to mount devices. If you can help us with this, please get in touch <info AT personaltelco DOT net>. Is this section still relevant? And even if it is, does it deserve valuable homepage real estate? We should be using this space to get people interested!

More information/links?

Contact Us

If you need help, or have a general question, please send an email to info@personaltelco.net, and someone will get back to you as soon as possible.

If you need technical operational support please send an email to <ops AT personaltelco DOT net>. Keep in mind that we are a volunteer based Network Operations Team and we will try and respond as soon as we can.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions related to this website, please send an email to <webmaster AT personaltelco DOT net>, and a web maintainer will get back to you as soon as possible.

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