From August 20-22, 2004, the Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network (CUWiN), Free Press, and Prairienet Community Network hosted the 2004 National Summit for Community Wireless Networks. The Summit was the largest gathering of community wireless networking developers, implementers and allies ever and built tremendous momentum in the emerging community wireless networking movement. The summit facilitated the building of an alliance of technologists, policy experts, and implementers, and encouraged participants to discuss the great variety of challenges and opportunities facing their initiatives, including:
- Do community wireless networks really serve the populations they ought to reach, and if not, what needs to be done?
- What is the future of the FCC's unlicensed spectrum policies that enable the innovations that drive community wireless technologies?
- Can dozens of independently-operating community wireless initiatives join together to create a positive future for the movement?
- What technological innovations and software innovations do we already have, and what projects are currently being worked on?
The Summit was held over three days, allowing participants to engage in extended conversations with presenters and with each other. Attendees developed strategic plans to expand community wireless network deployment and ensure that the federal government regulates spectrum to increase unlicensed access.