Imagine if our water supply was suddenly owned by one or two large, private companies who charged top dollar and determined how they distributed it based on whether they thought we could pay for it or not. This may not be the case for our water, but it is the case for high-speed Internet access. While the two issues may seem distantly related, it is becoming more of a reality that being able to go online is just as vital to life as water.

In California, for example, broadband connectivity — high-speed access to the Internet through cable modems, DSL (digital subscriber line) or T1, which are much faster than dial-up services like AOL — is provided by only a few companies, like Comcast and SBC, which charge customers upwards of $40 to $50 a month. In our increasingly connected and high-tech world, Internet access has become practically mandatory when searching for a job, working and going to school. While those who are able to access the economic and social resources that the World Wide Web provides, those without it and who lack computer literacy are becoming increasingly marginalized, resulting in a widening economic and social gap known as the “digital divide.”

Photo courtesy of Michael Oh

Some low-income communities and those living in rural or remote areas do not have Internet access because they can’t afford it, or because investor-driven companies like Comcast and SBC don’t provide connections in those locations, reasoning that they have little financial incentive to do so. Even in cities like San Francisco, lower-income neighborhoods like Bayview-Hunters Point do not have universal access to high-speed Internet.

In response, many communities are starting to take matters into their own hands. Whereas high-speed Internet access is typically supplied through broadband cables that are wired directly into buildings, now, rapidly developing wireless technologies are giving communities an alternative, by allowing them to create their own connections to the Internet for their constituents without the physical infrastructure of wires and cables.

Michael Oh, a 31-year-old graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and CEO of Tech Superpowers, started such a network in Boston in March 2002. NewburyOpen provides businesses and customers on Newbury Street (“the Rodeo Drive of Boston”) free, wireless Internet service. Oh initially came up with the idea because he wanted wireless access for himself, and because he thought it would be a unique way to advertise his business.

Free Wi-Fi (which stands for “wireless fidelity”) networks, also known as community wireless networks, are created when one central location has a broadband connection, usually a T1 line, with extra, unused bandwidth. The central location sets up an antenna on its roof, which then transmits to other antennas, or nodes, in locations within a quarter mile of and in the line of sight of the central location’s antenna.

Each community wireless network is set up differently, depending on the budget and cooperation of local residents and businesses. In the case of Oh’s NewburyOpen, Tech Superpowers, with its T1 line, acts as the central location and nearby businesses connect for free by allowing Oh to set up antennas on their buildings. Currently, 15 businesses are part of the NewburyOpen network.