05/02/2002
The Ocean State Free-Net, a statewide community network that provides
free Internet access, has restored service after being offline for more
than a week.
The Free-Net has had financial problems for the past six months and the
nonprofit organization has had trouble paying its bills to the company
that provides its Internet connection and telephone service, according
to Rui Cabral, the Free-Net's vice president.
The network relies primarily on donations from users to pay its
operating expenses.
The outage began April 22, Cabral said, when Conversent Communications
cut off its service because of delinquent bills.
The Free-Net's four phone lines were disconnected, and its mail servers
were cut off from the Internet, leaving many users without e-mail.
Service was restored yesterday about 2 p.m. after the Free-Net worked
out a four-month extension with Conversent in which the organization has
to pay its overdue balance of $3,700. It also has to pay its ongoing
expenses of about $150 a month.
The Free-Net concept was created in Cleveland in 1986 by Case Western
Reserve University to allow users free or inexpensive e-mail and
electronic access to community resources.
Thousands of Free-Nets popped up around the country, and for a time,
they served as one of the few ways to get to the Internet.
Rhode Island's Free-Net was formed in 1994 with the help of the state's
Department of Library Services.
The Ocean State Free-Net was spun off on its own in 1996, and it lost
all state financing in 1998, according to Cabral.
The service provides free e-mail accounts as well as text-based Internet
access, in which users see only the words on Web pages, not all the
pictures and graphics. Browsing the Internet with the Free-Net is
somewhat more difficult than using a traditional Web browser and
Internet connection, but some users prefer not seeing pictures and
advertisements.
It serves primarily low-income elderly and users with disabilities,
Cabral said.
Like the Free-Nets in other parts of the country, the Ocean State
Free-Net has suffered from the growing number of options that people now
have to go online, including ad-supported free Internet access services,
such as NetZero.
The Free-Net, which once had about 2,500 to 3,000 active users, Cabral
said, now has about 1,000.
Donations have also dropped to between $2,500 and $3,000 a year.
That was not enough to support the organization's spending last year,
Cabral said. Expenses were running about $700 a month for a digital
phone system that provided 23 dial-in lines. Cabral said the Free-Net
didn't need all those lines and scrapped that system in January. It is
now back to three dial-in lines, plus one for its help desk.
That has brought its expenses down to about $150 a month, he said.
The challenge now, he said, is to pay off the debt to Conversent and
raise money so it can continue operating. The Free-Net has about $1,500
in its treasury and plans to sell a piece of hardware it no longer
needs, which may be worth several hundred dollars, Cabral said.
Fundraising has long been a problem because of the nature of the
clientele the Free-Net serves.
"It's a Catch-22," Cabral said. "We're tapping a population that by its
definition does not have a lot of discretionary income. That's why it's
been difficult for us."
There are plans to begin a new marketing campaign, and now that it's
online again, Free-Net can reach out to its members for more donations,
he said.
"It's doable," Cabral said of paying off the debt. "But I suppose the
words would be 'cautiously optimistic.' "
"Four months from now, if it's not done, there's no second chance."