National Capital FreeNet

04/21/2026

Want to support digital equity in our region? NCF is hiring! Thanks to funding from the Canada Summer Jobs program of Employment and Social Development Canada we're looking for three summer positions: two Summer HelpDesk Analysts and a Summer Back-end Web Developer. Job descriptions and eligibility criteria are posted on our website: www.ncf.ca/careers . Deadline to apply is Mon. May 4th by midnight ET.

National Capital FreeNet is an Internet Service Provider committed to digital access. We sell Internet, offer community services and support digital literacy across the National Capital Region.

01/27/2026

Help build a future that includes everyone by coming to our screening of 1995 tech-classic Hackers, Sun. Feb. 1st at 2pm at the Mayfair Theatre. Tickets are a $20 donation or free by request: https://www.ncf.ca/en/hacktheplanet/

01/16/2026

NCF first launched our dial-up services and online community portal on Feb. 1, 1993.

To celebrate the 33rd anniversary of NCF going online, we're hosting a fundraising screening of 90s tech classic movie "Hackers" at the Mayfair Theatre, 1074 Bank St on Sun. Feb. 1 at 2pm.

Tickets are $20 each: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/free-the-net-a-ncf-movie-fundraiser-with-90s-tech-classic-hackers-tickets-1980669416543?aff=oddtdtcreator

Before the movie there will be a brief presentation on NCF's past, present and future. We'll also be launching our new branded merch!

In the 33 years since NCF first went online, technology has changed (and changed, and keeps changing.) But our mission has stayed the same: we believe everyone has a right to affordable, reliable and secure internet services that they can understand how to use, while feeling safe online.

Please join us and help ensure NCF is around for the future we've been building since 1993!

09/16/2025

A nice surprise to see this article from CityNews Ottawa while we're working away at building out the CommuniFi network offering free WiFi in Vanier and beyond! https://ottawa.citynews.ca/.../community-wi-fi-bridges.../

Thanks as always to CIRA - Canadian Internet Registration Authority for funding the pilot through their NetGood program and offering us the use of their DNS Firewall service to ensure CommuniFi is secure. Thanks to both our core project partners Ottawa Community Housing - OCH and Hiboo Networks for their ongoing support of the project since we first thought of the idea almost five years ago. And we're excited to be working with other community organizations as we grow! Stay tuned.

In the meantime: how many devices have accessed the network, how much are people using it and how many security threats has CIRA blocked since the first two sites were launched last year? Check out the most recent project update: https://www.ncf.ca/.../CommuniFi_by_NCF_-_Aug_2025...

06/26/2025

Even after almost 33 years, there are still lots of firsts for NCF. In this case, after 30+ years of online-only AGMs, yesterday was our first-ever hybrid Annual General Meeting, held online and at the Pinecrest Queensway Employment Services Centre!

Thanks to all the NCF members who voted to elect new directors, approved new bylaws and for the first time since we were founded in 1992, updated NCF's formal purpose to better reflect our commitment to internet affordability and digital equity.

We appreciate all those who ran -- many people commented that they wished they could vote for more than four candidates. And congratulations to incoming directors Kathryn Ann Hill, Lia Kiessling, Mark Fernandes and Yacouba Traoré! We're excited to work with them to help NCF become more sustainable and grow our impact.

Thanks also to outgoing directors Majd Karam and Chris Cope for all their work on the Board. Chris was Executive Director of NCF in the late 90s and has served on the Board for decades! He will continue in an advisory role as Past Chair.

The AGM was followed by a presentation about CommuniFi, NCF's new free community WiFi network. Unfortunately we ran out of time to screen the video CIRA - Canadian Internet Registration Authority made about the project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7Y8cHRaCkc

Finally, thanks to Christian Tacit and Catherine Cliff of Tacit Law for their work with the Board to draft the new governance documents.

CommuniFi is a free community WiFi network launched by NCF to bridge Ottawa’s digital divide, in partnership with CIRA, Ottawa Community Housing, and Hiboo N...

06/20/2025

We're thrilled to have received a Family and Community Service Award from Rotary Club Of West Ottawa this past week.

We were in good company with other community organizations like The Ottawa Mission, StorybookOttawa, Stride Wheelchairs Plus, and the Ottawa Shared Service Organization and were mightily inspired by the stories of the community impact that RCWO members have accomplished together over many years of service.

Thanks to longtime NCF member Theresa Jamone for nominating us and the amazing introduction: "From their inception, NCF recognized a fundamental truth: the internet is more than just technology; it is a gateway to educations, employment and civic participation. Their dedication has bridged the digital divide, asserting that connectivity is a right, not a privilege."

Couldn't have said it better ourselves! We're especially proud to be able to continue that work with our new CommuniFi project.

05/29/2025

Digital equity in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7Y8cHRaCkc

Thanks to funding from the CIRA - Canadian Internet Registration Authority Net Good grants program, NCF was able to build CommuniFi, our new community network offering free, fast and secure WiFi to help connect those most affected by the digital divide.

The first phase, done in partnership with Ottawa Community Housing - OCH and Hiboo Networks, built out the core network and connected the common spaces in and around two OCH buildings on Donald Street.

In the first six months of free WiFi, almost 2000 unique devices have connected to the network!

We're currently connecting another 10 community organizations across Vanier, Overbrook and parts of Lowertown and Sandy Hill and working on plans to expand to other parts of the city!

CommuniFi is a free community WiFi network launched by NCF to bridge Ottawa’s digital divide, in partnership with CIRA, Ottawa Community Housing, and Hiboo N...

04/08/2025

Update: Our website login is now working as expected, apologies for any hassles. A weather-related power outage caused some unexpected configuration issues with our servers. This has now been resolved.
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Some members are reporting login issues this morning -- we're currently looking into it. Internet services do not seem to be affected.

In the meantime, you can still access your NCF Zimbra email by typing https://mail.ncf.ca into your URL.

Zimbra provides open source server and client software for messaging and collaboration. To find out more visit https://www.zimbra.com.

04/02/2025

Update: We have restored DSL connectivity. Apologies for the delays: we take our network uptime seriously and know how important reliable connectivity is.

After unsuccessfully troubleshooting an issue with one of our suppliers, we were able to implement a work-around.

If you are still not connected, try power-cycling your modem by unplugging it for 10 seconds and then plugging it back in again -- even if you previously tried this without success. If you continue to have issues, please contact the HelpDesk at 613-721-1773 ext. 0 or by emailing [email protected].

We continue to look into the source of the issue so we can ensure it doesn't happen again and are also working to restore and improve our network redundancy since completing the data centre move.

Thanks for your patience and support.

04/02/2025

Update: DSL connectivity has now been restored.

Many DSL members are currently out of service due to a network issue: apologies. We are looking into it and hope to resolve it as soon as we can. We will keep you posted as we know more.

In the meantime, please do not reset your modem as this could mean you lose your modem configuration and won't be able to automatically reconnect once the network issue is resolved.