National Capital FreeNet (NCF) (French: Libertel de la Capitale Nationale), is a non-profit community organization Internet service provider, with the goal of linking people in Canada's capital of Ottawa, ensuring no Ottawa citizens would be excluded from Internet access. Founded in September 1992 with the active participation of volunteers, Carleton University, and private industry (which donated communications equipment), NCF was one of the first free-nets set up worldwide and was patterned after the Cleveland Free-Net that had been established at Case Western Reserve University in 1984. Within a year of its establishment NCF had over 10,000 members. NCF offers broadband (DSL) and dial-up service to people in the national capital region; in early 2012, over 4,000 members used its dial-up service.
The National Capital FreeNet is a free, computer-based information sharing network. It links the people and organizations of this region, provides useful information, and enables an open exchange of ideas with the world. Community involvement makes FreeNet an important and accessible meeting place, and prepares people for full participation in a rapidly changing communications environment."
History In many ways the history of NCF parallels that of the Internet itself. In the early 1990s NCF was one of the region's only Internet service providers and members flocked to it to take advantage of the new technology. Due to its volunteer and donation-based model the organization failed to keep up with the rapid technological changes that occurred in the 1995–2000 period and lost most of its membership to commercial ISPs as a result. Later it floundered trying to make ends meet and finally established itself in the niche market of providing services to disadvantaged segments of the community. NCF board member Jim Elder summarized NCF's early history: "NCF surfed the wave of Internet success in the first-half of the 1990s, but lost the wave in 1995 and then tread water." NCF regained some of its 'mojo' in the early 2000s, when funding from Industry Canada's SmartCapital program and several partners helped NCF modernize its back office system and web pages, bringing NCF firmly into the web era." The early days of this free-net featured dial-up service and web access using the Lynx browser. Members typically used the system to access Usenet, telnet, e-mail and Gopher. As the web became popular many new Internet users became NCF members before they went to a PPP provider for graphic access to the web. As the web evolved NCF began offering dial up PPP access.
1990s
1991 National Capital FreeNet was started at a luncheon held in October 1991. Jay Weston of the Carleton University Department of Mass Communications and George Frajkor of the School of Journalism and Television Programming invited Dave Sutherland, the director of the university's Computing and Communication Services Department, to have lunch and discuss the concept of establishing a free-net based on the concept of the Cleveland Free-Net. A committee independent of the university was formed under Sutherland's leadership and started meeting weekly that same month to lay the groundwork for the free-net. A decision was made to make the endeavour community-based and not part of the university, an approach supported by the university president.
1992 In the summer of 1992, the free-net was activated as a pilot project, using university computer resources that were underutilized over the summer. With help from Industry Canada, Sun Microsystems was persuaded to donate a computer and Gandalf Technologies provided the first modems. In September, the Ottawa Citizen carried a front-page article by Dominic Lacasse, describing the new pilot free-net project. The article included the dial-in phone number and, as a result, twenty people per day started signing up as members.
The first NCF board meeting was held on 10 December 1992 with Sutherland as chairman. At that point the organization had a total of 4 dial-up lines, a custom logo designed by a graphic artist and Cdn$2120. The start-up funding was made up of Cdn$1000 from City of Ottawa Community Health, Cdn$1000 from the Carleton School Board, a private donation of Cdn$50, and Cdn$70 in cash on hand. The board indicated that the "correct spelling for FreeNet was confirmed at this time as " FreeNet ", with both the "F" and "N" capitalized."
1993 National Capital FreeNet had its official public launch on 1 February 1993. In April 1993, Julie Chahal, head of the NCF's Public Access Committee presented a public access policy that was accepted by the board. This policy set free public access as a priority for the organization:
Public access terminals are a key element to meeting the National Capital FreeNet's objective to meet the present information needs of the people and public agencies in the region, and to prepare the community for full and broadly based participation in rapidly changing communication environments. They ensure that the Freenet is available to anyone interested, including those who may not own a home computer with a modem. - Julie Chahal By April 1993, NCF had reached the limit of their first server in offering 58 dial-up phone lines and started upgrading to faster 14.4 kbps modems. In the summer of 1993, the organization's application for charitable status was turned down by Revenue Canada, as was the application of another early freenet in Victoria, BC. NCF spent much of the year in fundraising activities to meet its mandate in the face of rapidly rising demands for service and the need to purchase new hardware on an ongoing basis. The organization hired its first Office Manager, Kyla Huckerby and committed to hiring a System Administrator as well. Late in the year Ian Allen was hired as NCF's first System Manager, reporting to the board. By the end of the year, NCF had over 11,000 members.
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