This is a rewrite of PersonalTelco (the wiki homepage) as written 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.
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 for each business, household, and apartment renter to sign up for internet service, wait days for a maintenance worker, purchase or rent a router, 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 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. You can help us help everybody with a donation of your time, money, or bandwidth. If you don't live in Portland, there may be a similar group near you.
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. Add links here!
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. Sign up for our mailing list, visit us on IRC for live chat, or drop by a meeting! Add links here!
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.
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>.
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.
View list of events Help Wiki projects can be a big place, you might start at the WikiTour and look over the HelpContents RecentChanges 
Links Node Map or Node List Current node summary Munin graphs OLSR status Personal Telco Blog Live chat Make a donation Adding a node? Follow this checklist Latest Discussions
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Ops Discussions
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