Editing Wireless community network (section)

==Organization==
Organizationally, a wireless community network requires either a set of affordable commercial technical solutions or a critical mass of hobbyists willing to tinker to maintain operations. Mesh networks require that a high level of community participation and commitment be maintained for the network to be viable. The mesh approach currently requires uniform equipment. One market-driven aspect of the mesh approach is that users who receive a weak mesh signal can often convert it to a strong signal by obtaining and operating a repeater node, thus extending the network. {{citation needed|date=July 2019}}

Such volunteer organizations focusing on technology that is rapidly advancing sometimes have schisms and mergers.{{citation needed|date=May 2014}} The Wi-Fi service provided by such groups is usually free and without the stigma of [[piggybacking (internet access)|piggybacking]]. An alternative to the voluntary model is to use a [[co-operatives|co-operative]] structure.<ref>[http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9244199 Easier said than done: Second thoughts about municipal Wi-Fi] May 25th, 2007</ref>

===Business models===
Wireless community projects made volunteer bandwidth-sharing technically feasible and have been credited with contributing to the emergence of alternative business models in the consumer Wi-Fi market. The commercial Wi-Fi provider [[Fon (company)|Fon]] was established in 2006 in Spain. Fon customers were equipped with a [[Linksys]] Wi-Fi access point that runs a modified [[OpenWrt]] firmware so that Fon customers shared Wi-Fi access among each other. Public Wi-Fi provisioning through FON customers was broadened when FON entered a 50% revenue-sharing agreement with customers who made their entire unused bandwidth available for resale. In 2009, this business model gained broader acceptance when [[British Telecom]] allowed its own home customers to sell unused bandwidth to BT and FON roamers.<ref name="John Wiley & Sons"/>

Wireless community projects for the most provide [[Best-effort delivery|best-effort]] Wi-Fi coverage. However, since the mid-2000s [[local authorities]] started to contract with wireless community networks to provide [[municipal wireless network]]s or stable Wi-Fi access in a defined urban area, such as a park. Wireless community networks started to participate in a variety of [[public-private partnerships]]. The non-profit community network [[ZAP Sherbrooke]] has partnered with public and private entities to provide Wi-Fi access and received financial support from the [[University of Sherbrooke]] and [[Bishop's University]] to extend the coverage of its wireless mesh throughout the city of [[Sherbrooke]], [[Canada]].<ref>{{cite book |editor1= Andrew Clement |editor2=Michael Gurstein |editor3=Graham Longford |editor4=Marita Moll |editor5=Leslie Regan Shade |date= 2011 |title= Connecting Canadians: Investigations in Community Informatics |publisher= Athabasca University Press |isbn= 9781926836041 | page = 191}}</ref>