Anybody received donations of service from Cell phone providers for internet access? I'm looking to see if I can get Verizon, AT&T, Sprint or similar to donate data access for our squadron to support our operations. Anyone had such luck? If so, with who?
Check with National. National use to provide free dial up for every unit through Earthlink. I don't know if it is still available.
Dial up would be fine if we met anywhere that had a phone line.
I got AT&T to donate an ancient aircard and a free access plan which they called "Community Outreach Initiative", but they became Cingular and that went away, now that they are AT&T again (but really still Cingular) I have no clue.
Check in your area to see if they have wireless broadband - this comes in on an antenna and provides high speed data in a similar, higher power manner as home wifi.
(Note this is not the a satellite kludge).
I have at least one unit getting this type of service at no charge from the provider.
Earthlink does still have the dial-up and free hosting. They've dropped the number of megs available, but there's still enough for a site unless you plan to include a lot of high-end A/V.
As far as getting access goes, you'll probably do better trying to find a local company that will either donate a land-line or permit you to piggy-back on their service.
Some cable companies are willing to donate a connection. Many dsl providers will offer you a free dsl in exchange for a place to locate a signal booster.
If at first you don't succeed, keep trying. The entire communications industry is changing, so what's not available now may be free tomorrow.