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TFA-Wireless
TFA-Wireless is a high speed wireless Internet service that is part of the Technology For All (TFA) social enterprise strategy to use technology as a tool to empower low-income and under resourced communities.
The initial service area for TFA-Wireless covers approximately two square miles of the Pecan Park neighborhood in Houston's East End. The service area is bordered by Griggs Road on the northwest, Lawndale Street and State Highway 225 on the northeast, Loop 610 on the southeast and I-45 South to the southwest.
Any resident of Pecan Park with wireless knowledge or who attends an orientation class at TFA-Houston's community technology center at Mission Milby Community Development Corporation, 2220 Broadway may be eligible to receive free or reduced-rate Internet services from TFA-Wireless.
The TFA-Wireless network is a collaborative project designed and built by Rice University faculty and students in the Rice Network Group , a research group within the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The lead scientist on the project is Professor Ed Knightly , Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Associate Professor of Computer Science. Joseph Camp , a Rice University MS/Ph.D. student, is providing direct guidance for the project and assisted in writing a journal article on the project that has been submitted for publication.
The Houston Public Library is also collaborating on the project. Its Melcher Branch library is centrally located in the Pecan Park neighborhood and was the ideal site for a TFA-Wireless network access point. In reviewing the network plans , library officials immediately recognized the benefit that the network would provide their patrons, who can now log in from Melcher's wireless computers at speeds up to 1 Mb/sec.
TFA-Wireless harnesses the city-wide SimHouston program to provide free e-mail, desktop software, and other on-line services for users. For more information, see the FAQs or contact Jim.Forrest@techforall.org or by phone at 713.454.6413.
Based on the success of the current network, Technology For All will evaluate plans to expand TFA-Wireless to other sections of the East End as well as other low-income neighborhoods across the Houston area.
Journal Article - "Measurement Driven Deployment of a Two-Tier Urban Mesh Access Network"
Technology For All
2220 Broadway - Houston, Texas 77012
713.454.6400
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