FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Magnolia Road Internet Cooperative
George Watson 303.258.3703
Released March 1, 2002 to the Boulder Daily Camera, Nederland Mountain-Ear, Front Range TechBiz Journal, Boulder County Business Report, Denver Post, Denver Business Journal, PUMA newsletter.
Magnolia Road Neighbors Build Community 802.11b Network
NEDERLAND, Colorado - March 1, 2002
Sometime in early April, twenty lucky Magnolia Road area residents will be the first to experience affordable always-on high speed Internet access. This initial trial group will be sharing the equivalent of two T1 lines...or about 100 times faster than the typical Magnolia phone line. This experiment ushers in a new era of telecommuters, home-based businesses, distance learning, remote monitoring, and other yet undreamed local services.
Over 15% of Magnolia area households have expressed interest in this not-for-profit project. The Magnolia Road Internet Cooperative (MRIC) incorporated as a State of Colorado Cooperative Association in December, 2001. For about 6 months, volunteers canvassed the neighborhood optimizing placement of low-power, unobtrusive 802.11b (WiFi) repeaters. A missed state grant due to budget cuts forced MRIC to rethink the network design to save money. Individuals contributed $300 no-interest seed capital loans to build this network. Once trial subscribers give their approval, the general community will be invited to participate.
Initial monthly costs are $50 but the hope is to very quickly drop the monthly cost to $35 as the subscriber base grows. Eventually if enough residents join, the projected monthly cost will drop to dial-up pricing. More volunteers will be needed to help drive down the additional cost of supporting new subscribers.
See http://www.magnoliaroad.net for more details on this new service.
About Magnolia Road Internet Cooperative
Formed in 2001, The Magnolia Road Internet Cooperative (MRIC) is a non-profit rural community wireless Internet services provider. MRIC's goal is to provide affordable full-time broadband access to Magnolia Road area residents through fixed wireless technology deployed in an environmentally conscious manner. MRIC can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.magnoliaroad.net.