National Capital FreeNet
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| Abbreviation | NCF |
|---|---|
| Motto | To support people of Canada's national capital region in enjoying the benefits of the internet. |
| Formation | September 1992 |
| Type | NGO |
| Legal status | Non-profit Association |
| Purpose | Educational |
| Headquarters | Suite 206 Richmond Square, 1305 Richmond Road, Ottawa, Ontario K2B 7Y4 |
| Location |
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Region served
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Gatineau, Québec |
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Membership
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Individuals |
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Official language
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English & French |
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President
|
Gary Eikenberry |
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Main organ
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Board of Directors |
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Staff
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6 |
| Website | www.ncf.ca |
National Capital FreeNet (NCF) (French: Libertel de la Capitale Nationale), is a non-profit community organization internet service provider, with the goal of linking people in Canada's capital of Ottawa and ensuring no Ottawa citizens would be excluded from internet access.
Founded in September 1992 with the active participation of volunteers, Carleton University, and private industry (which donated communications equipment), NCF was one of the first free-nets set up worldwide and was patterned after the Cleveland Free-Net that had been established at Case Western Reserve University in 1984. Within a year of its establishment NCF had over 10,000 members.
NCF offers broadband (DSL) and dial-up service to people in the national capital region; in early 2012, over 4,000 members used its dial-up service.
In many ways the history of NCF parallels that of the Internet itself. In the early 1990s NCF was one of the region's only internet service providers and members flocked to it to take advantage of the new technology. Due to its volunteer and donation-based model the organization failed to keep up with the rapid technological changes that occurred in the 1995-2000 period and lost most of its membership to commercial ISPs as a result. Later it floundered trying to make ends meet and finally established itself in the niche market of providing services to disadvantaged segments of the community. NCF board member Jim Elder summarized NCF's early history: "NCF surfed the wave of Internet success in the first-half of the 1990s, but lost the wave in 1995 and then tread water." NCF regained some of its 'mojo' in the early 2000s, when funding from Industry Canada's SmartCapital program and several partners helped NCF modernize its back office system and web pages, bringing NCF firmly into the web era."
The early days of this free-net featured dial up service and web access using the Lynx browser. Members typically used the system to access usenet, telnet, e-mail and . As the web became popular many new Internet users became NCF members before they went to a provider for graphic access to the web. As the web evolved NCF began offering dial up PPP access.
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