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Île Sans Fil spreads the gospel of wireless
by Sarah Pearson
 IMAGINE A WORLD where wireless internet was always free. A world without keychain passwords, complicated account numbers, and full-bar signals wherever you went. A world where wireless access was a universal right, like healthcare or education (“universal,” of course, for those who could afford a laptop). Well, this is the vision of Île Sans Fil, a Montreal-based not-for-profit organization committed to spreading free wireless across the city. They are a best friend to the city’s laptop-toters, and one of the many reasons why this city is so cool.
Île Sans Fil is a growing internet network that has hotspots across town – in parks, arenas, but mostly in cafés. Anybody can create an account for free on the website, which they then log into at the hotspot. Café owners have to pay a monthly fee to join the system, and more and more neighbourhood joints are signing up. Rather than set up their own private WiFi service – be it free or not – these business owners see the advantage of joining a larger network. “I get used to looking for that Île Sans Fil sticker in the window,” says Alanah Heffez, a Montreal writer. WiFi networks, like most things, have become branded.
On their website, Île Sans Fil states that their vision is “to use […] wireless technology to empower individuals and empower a sense of community.” This grassroots organization is part of a larger movement of hippy-geeks – a movement that believes in the internet’s power to create equal access of information to the masses. And masses they have: to date, ISF has 50,000 users. They're not alone: Paris-Sans-Fil, WirelessToronto and NYCwireless are just some of the many not-for-profit wireless communities germinating across the globe.
Free WiFi is fast becoming an expectation of the café clientele rather than a perk. "I do expect the coffee shop I go to to study, eat and meet friends to have a sort of Internet access, preferably Wireless," says Katheline Jean-Pierre, director of marketing at Île Sans Fil. "It has become a basic convenience now." Not all café owners agree that wireless should just be another free condiment like cream and sugar. Among them is the owner of Club Social, a Mile End café-cum-cult for hipsters and retired Italian men alike. The café has its own private wireless network, and charges patrons five dollars a month for it. The owner also requires patrons to ask permission before plugging in their power cords. “It’s a matter of courtesy – I’m selling coffee, not electricity.”
This grassroots organization is part of a larger movement of hippy-geeks – a movement that believes in the internet’s power to create equal access of information to the masses.
So clearly the open-source values of free love and free wireless aren’t for everyone. Indeed, wireless is such a new phenomenon that many of its moral questions have yet to be ironed out. Is it wrong to piggyback your neighbour’s free connection? Is it expected that a café provide WiFi access along with its packets of sweet-and-low? Should wireless be something the City pays for (imagine a free city-wide network operated by the city council)?
All this is yet to be seen. For now, the friendly folk at Île Sans Fil are working hard to bring solidarity and free communication to the citizens of Montreal Island. And as they do, they are making café owners across town rethink what basic services their patrons expect.
Check out www.ilesansfil.org for a list of hotspots
Some popular hotspots include:
Café Cagibi
Arts Café
Atwater Library
Coopératif La Maison Verte
Café Santropol
Café l’Utopik,
Centre Pierre-Charbonneau
Dusty’s
Cinéma Beaubien
Citron Vert
Mainline Theatre
Marché Jean-Talon
St-Sulpice
The Yellow Door
Zeke’s Gallery
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