NTEN Blogs Municipal Wireless

Nonprofits need to engage in the development of municipal wireless programs to ensure that their clients and stakeholders will benefit, understand how they can deliver services in new ways because of this access, and prepare clients and stakeholders for the change. Keep up to date on the latest by following the NTEN Connect blog.

Case Study: Providing Event Attendees with Wireless Internet via Mobile Broadband

Submitted by Brett on Wed, 12/21/2011 - 6:23pm

By Jason Samuels, Manager of Information Technology, National Council on Family Relations

How important is it for your conference attendees to have access to the internet? We asked this question recently on our post-conference survey and the results were overwhelming:

95.9% of NCFR Conference attendees said that having internet access is at least somewhat important.

What many of your conference attendees don’t realize is just how unaffordable it is to provide blanket wireless access on the meeting room floors at major hotels. A September 2011 industry report published by the Professional Convention Management Association found that respondents spent an average of over $7,000 on internet access, and only 37% provided free WiFi to attendees. Our organization has felt the pinch, spending thousands of dollars in past years on internet access for just our cyber café and registration desk.

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Tip of the Day: How to Stay Connected at the NTC

Submitted by Amy on Mon, 03/14/2011 - 1:15pm

11NTC Tip - Wifi

For the last week, we've been counting down to our time together in DC -- or online! -- for the Nonprofit Technology Conference, sharing tips each day to help you maximize your impact and your fun.

The fabulous Rob Cottingham, the NTC Official Cartoon Blogger, is helping us prep with some great cartoons. You'll see them on our blog throughout the conference and at http://socialsignal.com/ntc2011.

Today we're sharing the tips you need to stay connected while at the NTC!

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Full Throttle: The Only Way to Experience the Internet

Submitted by Holly on Tue, 04/20/2010 - 9:00am

Pop quiz, hotshots: On a scale of one to ten, how important is the Internet to your organization's ability to meet its mission?

It's pretty high up there, right? A nine? A ten? In less than one generation, the Internet has gone from sci-fi to central to our daily lives. As nonprofits, we rely on the Internet to find and communicate information and build relationships with our supporters.

Millions of emails. Millions of page views. Millions of Twitter updates. Not to be overly dramatic, but they are all at risk.

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Nonprofits and Broadband: Community Call Summary

Submitted by Holly on Tue, 09/08/2009 - 8:48am

In case you were wondering, we don't like the digital divide here at NTEN. In fact, we like it so little, we think every nonprofit has a responsiblity to work against it. It's an issue we care about deeply, so we're really excited about all the administration's moves to widen broadband access in the U.S.

We want you to be excited too, so we're going to try to make sure you know what's going on and how you can take part. To that end, we hosted a community call last week with Misty Perez from FreePress and Sheldon Mains. There are oodles of great links and resources below about everything from BTOP to Net Neutrality.

Peruse and enjoy, then take some action:

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Free Nonprofit Tech Webinars and Resources for NTEN Members

Submitted by Annaliese on Mon, 08/17/2009 - 9:28am

Flickr: HowiePoonNTEN has been growing by leaps and bounds over the last few years, in both membership and programming, and we have a few new free sessions you should take advantage of this month:

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Provide the Nonprofit Voice to America's Broadband Plan

Submitted by Anna on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 9:59am

Flickr Photo by Chi KingThe Federal Communications Commission is seeking public comment on how to draft America's national broadband plan. It's essential that they hear from us.

If you're an NTEN Member -- or have been lurking around for awhile -- you know that Universal Broadband Access is an issue we care deeply about.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 set aside $7.2 billion for broadband stimulus. It also requires the FCC to begin drafting a national broadband plan. The plan will help determine the future of Internet access across the country.

As organizations with a stake in the future of communications, we must ensure that the commissioners hear our call for fast, affordable, ubiquitous, and open Internet access.

You have until Friday, June 8, to file comments online at the FCC website.

I learned about the public comment period in an email from Free Press. They're doing some fabulous organizing around universal access and have provided some basic talking points for comments to the FCC. Read the quick facts below, see Free Press for more info, and comment today!

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Tech Policy Summit: Broadband Innovation -- You're Invited!

Submitted by Annaliese on Tue, 04/21/2009 - 11:05am

Check out this event taking place in San Mateo next month. It's free for nonprofit staff!

TPS: Broadband Innovation, taking place May 11, 2009 in conjunction with the 3rd annual Tech Policy Summit conference, is designed to assist community and business leaders by offering best practices for improving Internet access and adoption. Produced by Tech Policy Central, the daylong event will provide an in-depth look at state and federal efforts to improve broadband deployment and the call to develop a comprehensive national broadband strategy.
Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) will keynote the summit, which will also feature policy experts from AT&T, Comcast, One Economy, Connected Nation, Level 3 Communications, IBM, The Children's Partnership and the California Emerging Technology Fund, among others.

Registration is free to nonprofit, academic and government employees and the corporate rate is $195.

View the agenda and sign up online at http://events.techpolicycentral.com

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TXT Messaging Isn't Just for the Kids Anymore

Submitted by Holly on Mon, 12/29/2008 - 9:53am

In November, I was lucky enough to sit on a panel on text messaging for advocacy at the Convio Summit. My co-panelists, Matt Wilson from Mobile Commons and Kristin Kich of NARAL Pro Choice America both had some great case studies about using mobile to build lists and generate actions. There were lots of great questions during the session, including the very appropriate one about just who is texting anyway. Much like social media, there's an assumption out there that the only people who are texting are kids. That was probably true as recently as 2006/07. But it's not anymore! Nielson Mobile has just released statistics that indicate that EVERYONE is now texting. In the last quarter of 2007, the number of text messages consumers sent outpaced the number of calls they make and receive. According to 160Characters, the number of text messages has been steadily increasing: Qtr 3, 2007: 226 calls / 193 texts Qtr 4, 2007: 213 calls / 218 texts Qtr 1, 2008: 207 calls / 288 texts Qtr 2, 2008: 204 calls / 357 texts Of course, it's still heavily skewed towards the kids. Teens age 13-17 send and receive an average of 1,742 text per month, compared to "just" 231 calls. But the dominance of text messages is clear in several age categories: All Subs: 204 calls / 357 texts 12 & Under: 137 calls / 428 texts Ages 13-17: 231 calls / 1742 texts Ages 18-24: 265 calls / 790 texts Ages 25-34: 239 calls / 331 texts Ages 35-44: 223 calls / 236 texts Ages 45-54: 193 calls / 128 texts Ages 55-64: 145 calls / 38 texts Ages 65+: 99 calls / 14 texts So if you've been thinking that text messaging wasn't a good way to reach to your audience, you may want to think again. The President-Elect doesn't have a mobile strategy for nothing.

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How Fast is Your Internet Connection?

Submitted by Holly on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 8:48am

Access to the Internet is one of the issues we care about most here at NTEN. The United States is a lowly 15th in the world when it comes to broadband access, and that's almost certainly having an adverse effect on how thousands of nonprofits are able to serve their clients and stakeholders.

It's so bad, FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps has admitted, "America's record in expanding broadband communication is so poor that it should be viewed as an outrage by every consumer and businessperson in the country."

What are we going to do about it?

As a pretty competitive person, I was motivated by the Communication Worker's of America's newest campaign, Speed Matters. The campaign tests your Internet connection and compares it to the communities around you, as well as the rest of the world.

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An Online World

Submitted by Anna on Tue, 07/08/2008 - 7:01am

Flickr Photo: Lizette GrecoWhat will a truly online world look like? A world where each and every one of us has quality access to the internet?

Sam Churchill, dailywireless.org, has compiled some graphs and rankings on the current wired and wireless states of the world from a Forbes article. We need to analyze this and wonder why the United States is dropping in these rankings. But what I found most interesting in the article is an organization that had its launch at the Personal Democracy Forum: Internet for Everyone.

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