Just in time for the summer visitor season, free public wifi has arrived on Main Street in Newport, running from Coventry Street all the way to Second Street. Visitors to downtown can now connect to “Newport Downtown Wifi” right on the street.
The network is passwordless, so getting online is easy. But unlike most public networks, this one encrypts your data while it travels, giving you an extra layer of security as you browse.
The service is made possible by three nonprofits working together:
- Newport Wireless Mesh, which has provided low-cost home wifi in the residential area next to downtown for nearly ten years
- Laboratory B, a nonprofit cooperative hackerspace in Burlington
- Newport Downtown Development (NDD)
This project shows what communities can accomplish when people pull together. NDD included Newport Wireless Mesh in a grant that paid for the equipment installed atop the Northern Express Care building, with the blessing of owner Liz Vickers.
Software engineer Martin Kennedy of Laboratory B installed the firmware on the routers and manages the network’s Super Node in Burlington. Newport Wireless Mesh installed the router and dish antenna on top of the United Church of Newport, whose members have for many years provided electricity and space for the residential Mesh. They also installed the routers and cables on top of the Northern Express Care building. Newport Wireless Mesh provides the bandwidth and keeps an eye on the system day to day.
Newport City’s public network may be unique in the United States. Martin Kennedy adapted the firmware from the Gluon public wifi firmware used by the many-thousand-node Freifunk mesh project in Germany.
Here’s how the security works: the network uses public key encryption between an access point and your device, set up automatically when your device tries to connect. That makes the initial connection a little slower, but it ensures your data is encrypted. Once your data is in the network, it travels between access points over a VPN.
Encryption keeps your data private, but it doesn’t guarantee you’re connecting to the right network. When you join, look carefully for “Newport Downtown Wifi” and steer clear of any similar-sounding names.
Work is still ongoing to extend the network’s reach. The team plans to install a few more routers on lightposts along the street, bringing free, secure wifi to even more of downtown Newport.