Deborah Simpier - Althea (Page 2)

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Deborah Simpier

March Community Update

March Community Update

In the US, 65% of consumers get their internet from just two cable providers. These providers charge too much for slow service and leave behind many Americans who can’t access the internet due to cost. But what if anyone could start or grow a network? What if we could

2019 - A Year in Review

2019 - A Year in Review

2019 has been a key year for Althea. We implemented our billing software and grew our network in Oregon. From there, we launched a training and onboarding program which brought in new network organizers, each starting a new Althea network in their community. In the latter part of the year,

November Community Update

November Community Update

We are excited to share the latest Althea news! Over the last few months, many of our prospective deployments are getting close to launch, and networks in Tacoma, Washington, and Abuja, Nigeria have broken ground. New Altheahoods have also started in Phillipsburg, Tempe, DuBois, Grand Island, and South Africa. The

Althea and MakerDAO partner for Abuja Network powered by Dai

Althea and MakerDAO partner for Abuja Network powered by Dai

Althea, a system that lets routers pay each other for bandwidth, is launching its first network in Africa in early November 2019. An initial pilot network will start with about 15 participants. A partnership between MakerDAO and Althea will then help bootstrap the expansion of the network, bringing in more

Introduction to Researching Market Potential

Althea business

Introduction to Researching Market Potential

Researching market potential is an important part of starting an Althea network. While adding more links to an existing Althea network is relatively easy, setting up that network is similar to starting a wireless ISP business and requires research and planning to ensure that take rate and revenue make sense.

Getting Started with Community Outreach

Getting Started with Community Outreach

Networks are made out of more than antennas and ethernet cables. They are homes and business - neighbors - connected to one another. These neighbors can also become relays, forwarding bandwidth to nearby homes and earning money. Althea organizers are project managers that spread the word and help coordinate installation,

June Community Update

June Community Update

Over the last month, Althea organizers have been working to develop local partnerships and gain traction in their communities. Several organizers have chosen the “Altheahoods” approach to starting their networks, and have begun gathering pre-registration sign-ups prior to build out. Using social media and door-to-door canvassing, the hilltop organizers have

A Sustainable Network

Althea business

A Sustainable Network

The novelty of the Althea system [https://althea.org/how-it-works] is how it incentivizes a diverse group of partners within the network and automates their collaboration. Local organizers work together with home and business owners to host infrastructure that relays bandwidth throughout the community. This unique collaboration can give rise

Digital Divide Narrowing Substantially?

Digital Divide Narrowing Substantially?

It's June 2019 and today I'm going to install a new subscriber of our cooperative ISP in rural Oregon. This family had previously only access to 1Mbps wireless or an expensive 4Mbps DSL connection. This is not a new or isolated incident. I receive calls every day from people in

Althea in Los Mochis

Althea in Los Mochis

On a sunny day in the city of Los Mochis, Mexico, Althea organizer Raul, runs a speed test on an expensive 20Mbps connection. 20Mbps, which is not even considered broadband in the US, is about the fastest connection available in the city. Today, like most days here, the speedtest shows

May Community Update

May Community Update

We launched six new Altheahoods communities in early May. An Altheahood community is selected by an organizer as a potential deployment. Local organizers then work together with the Althea team to get people signed up and “pre-registered” prior to committing to a buildout. One of these organizers, Perri, had been

Faster, Cheaper Internet in Medellin Colombia

Faster, Cheaper Internet in Medellin Colombia

Before the Red Medellin team brought in Althea's innovative technology, options for internet access were limited in Comuna 13, one of the sprawling urban communities on the hills surrounding Medellin Colombia. A few of the homes had low-speed DSL access, but most people relied on expensive cell data plans. Many

April Update

Taking a note from Google's rollout of their fiber networks, we are introducing the new Altheahoods program! This program supplies organizers with the marketing tools and internet presence to get end users signed up and on board prior to building out the network. This is a good tool to evaluate

Althea in Medellin

Althea in Medellin

My trip to Colombia Entonces(enˈtonses/, [ẽn̪ˈt̪õnses]) — One of my favorite Spanish words. It means then or so. I like the cadence, how it fills the awkward space in a sentence and how it conveys a sense of time and place. My trip in Colombia was a journey

March Update

We were so busy building and growing I think we missed an update in February! We now have 23 users in Clatskanie [https://blog.althea.org/tales-from-the-field/], and several relays (a relay is a node that has a connecting antenna and an antenna that broadcasts to neighbors – relays make money

Tales from the Field

Tales from the Field

It was raining. It always seems to rain just as we pack up the rig with all of the antennas, cables, and tools. My fellow subnet organizer, Shaun, and I were heading to install a new Althea user. A few previous installs under our belt, we are getting better at

Blockchain and Broadband

Blockchain and Broadband

It’s difficult for big telecom to make money selling bandwidth to small rural towns or low income urban areas, otherwise they would already be there. Internet poverty exists because there is little economic incentive for those who build the internet infrastructure to provide service to these areas. This is

Althea in rural Oregon

Althea in rural Oregon

This article is about a network started by Deborah Simpier, who has been working on incentivized mesh for years, but joined the Althea team a couple months ago. She started this network before joining our team, and was actually Althea’s first user.