[MLB-WIRELESS] setting up a wireless network

[Michael Borthwick]

On 04/04/2008, at 11:06 PM, Eddie Hadzig wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Ive been reading about your set up in Melbourne and regional vic,  
> very impressive.
> I am in regional Vic, Horsham, we have some state gov. funding to  
> run a community broadband feasability study, involving the  
> broadcast of wirelsee broadband to 13 households with low income  
> using wireless Access Points and naked ADSL.
>
> We are keen to continue and expand this after the trial but need to  
> research how this will happen. We are currently not charging  
> households for the broadband, in line with the telecommunications  
> act (not reselling it for a profit) but I see on your site that you  
> believe its not illegal to charge but not for profit? This is what  
> we are really interested in as we work in a low socio economic  
> community. Can you tell me where I can find any information that  
> confirms that selling / sharing not for profit is allowed? Any help  
> would be great, its really hard to find any related information on  
> the internet.
>

Hi Eddie on Jan 13 2002 Roger Venning posted this to list:
<----snip--->
Hi everyone,

for some more information on the legality of carriage of Internet
traffic over the Melbourne wireless LAN mesh, see the excellent work
done by the Brisbane mesh people:
http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~mesh/doc/2001-10-08-aca-question.txt
http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~mesh/doc/2001-10-25-aca-answer.txt

In summary, for non-commercial activities it is OK. However the ACA is
not prepared to say that not-for-profit is equivalent to non-commercial
without disclaimer, but they guess that it might be...
<----snip--->

On 15 Feb 2003 Darren Dries posted the following from the ACA WLAN  
fact sheets.

<----snip--->

 From the fact sheet:

What is commercial?
The following questions may assist you to determine whether
your use of a WLAN fits the concept of commercial and
therefore requires a carrier licence.
Q.1 Do you receive any direct or indirect reward, monetary or
other, for use by others of your network equipment?
Q.2 Do you have a contract or any other agreement (verbal or
written) with parties involved in the use of the network,
dealing, for example, with the payment of money and
performance obligations?
Q.3 Do you use the network for the purpose of making a
profit?
Q.4 Do you have an ABN for use in connection with the
operation of the network?
If you answer no to all of the questions above, you may be
exempt from the requirement to hold a carrier licence. If you
answer yes to any of the questions, or are unsure about your
answer to any of the questions, you should contact the Licensing
and National Interests Team at the ACA to discuss your
situation.

<---snip--->

I'm not sure if they're are publicly accessible archives of the MW  
list but if you search around some of the terms above you should turn  
up some info.

Cheers,

Mike