Personal Telco Exports

This page is for people who don't live in Portland, Oregon and are interested in starting their own community wifi group. It's where we put things to make it easier to do that. Reading these documents might save you some time!

This page is a start but needs work! The first person used here refers to DanRasmussen. I've created this page partly as an exercise in learning, and have numerous questions. If you can answer any of them, please do.

Overview

PersonalTelcoHandbook, although it's got some fairly old information, provides a pretty good overview of how our community wireless group works.

Why is Personal Telco organized as a nonprofit?

Personal Telco started as many things do: small. Then it grew. A handful of friends setting up wifi AccessPoints and allowing anybody to connect is one thing. A group that promotes network access on a larger scale, the sharing of ideas, the feeling of community, and education is another.

As I understand it, this allows people to make tax-deductible monetary donations to Personal Telco. See NonProfitDiscussion and PolicyLinks. (There's also NonProfit - not positive it's worth including here)

From ContactUs: "Personal Telco Project is a Federal Tax Exempt 501(c)(3) and an Oregon Non-profit Corporation." I don't know what this means. Anybody?

Unless you're seeking publicity, or trying to change laws, one thing most people and organizations find enjoyable is not being sued. Personal Telco has collected some writing on LegalIssues. Alas, it's not very complete or up-to-date.

Growth

One way to enlarge the impact of a group or organization is to tell people about it. Personal Telco's Publications page might give you some ideas.