comunity based wireless network any body thought of it?

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heretohelp

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#19886 4-Mar-2008 20:26

Has any considored setting up a comunity based wirless network, not necicearly to connect to the net but just to have access to share files etc from a large amount of people. you could run it off a server and if people want to join they contact you and you give them access via the server but they must set up an access point to join so it extends the range of the network would be kinda cool. i know they do this typ of thing in education dpeartments but just at home be easy to do just getting enuf people would be the hard part

Hu? did i do that?
16Mb (EDO RAM), K6-II processor, 2Mb of onboard graphics. 32k dial up modem. 12 speed CD ROM. 5¼-inch floppy drive. 500Mb HDD.

freitasm

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#114681 4-Mar-2008 20:41

Yes, people thought about this before...

Where are you located? Read my blog about the Free The Net initiative in Wellington. There's a similar thing in Auckland. If you are not in those locations, just start one.

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heretohelp

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#114682 4-Mar-2008 20:43

im in new plymouth. the area i live in would not be suitable to start all old farts around and im surounded by dirt banks so signal would not get out with the equipment i have

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16Mb (EDO RAM), K6-II processor, 2Mb of onboard graphics. 32k dial up modem. 12 speed CD ROM. 5¼-inch floppy drive. 500Mb HDD.

freitasm

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#114685 4-Mar-2008 20:46

That's why these are implemented as mesh networks. The devices act as repeaters and you can extend the net. Just need someone to provide Internet at some gateways and some to provide power for the devices.

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MauriceWinn

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#114733 5-Mar-2008 00:00

Free/shared Wi-Fi on a communal basis is a nice idea, but unfortunately, unless a thing is really in huge surplus, free doesn't work because, as with Hippie communes back in the good old days, some people work like crazy, make and grow things and operate on values which are, to use a fashionable phrase, sustainable.

But some prefer to sit around stoned, raiding the groceries grown by others, mating with the workers' girlfriends and leading a very easy life.

After a while, the givers get sick of the takers. Bludgers and workers don't go well together [hence lots of productive people going to Australia and everywhere else, leaving NZ for the government spivs and other bludgers].

A few centuries ago, the invention of money enabled people to move away from barter and measure value on a universal basis. Money remains a good way of measuring value and exchanging it. It balances supply and demand. The unit of value in cyberspace is the megabyte and it is enhanced in value by its security, speed of transmission, and reliability of transmission. Pricing megabytes correctly is the way to manage cyberspace.

How long people are connected to the internet is NOT a unit of value though most companies like to charge by how long customers are connected, whether or not customers are moving megabytes.

The shared Wi-Fi mesh networks will have to control data usage somehow. That means measuring data used and turning people on and off. If it isn't controlled, that will result in the old Hippie commune problem.

Shared Wi-Fi is also a way of avoiding the government taking a piece of the process and that's a common advantage of barter systems. Paid services involve GST, after tax income being depleted for subscribers, tax on profits of the supplier, tax on everything else, not to mention a bunch of regulations. Perhaps that's enough to justify barter systems in some situations.

tonyhughes

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#114755 5-Mar-2008 08:07

Great post Maurice!

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#114777 5-Mar-2008 09:31

Great post Maurice!

Brought a smile to my face. good one.

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freitasm

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#114788 5-Mar-2008 10:00

Good post indeed. And this is the reason why I am delaying my participation on the whole "Free the net" initiative.

It's a mixed environment. Some tech companies want to provide Internet access in exchange for advertising and sponsors are paying for a few devices - but only in the CBD, where there are already alternatives - not free - such as CafeNet and Telecom. Personal contributions is just out of the love of sharing though.

However in the suburbs we would have to pay for the devices. Which is ok, at $100 each and if you have the funds to participate in a project to help the community having access to a resource that for some is too expensive and for others way beyond their dreams.

But then the "freeeloaders" would come. Even though the Meraki devices are configured to limit each PC to a 1 GB traffic a month, there will be cases of people who will simply use that for more than education and communication.

That's why when I think of having a "public" wireless spot here around home I think of FON, Zenbu or Tomizone.

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heretohelp

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#114832 5-Mar-2008 14:08

my idea was more along the lines of not having access to the internet as such but to share the files you have gathered from the internet on a comunity based storage location accessed via wireless netowrk, i know this would bring up copy right issues but its comunity based and the files would not be stored in one place but on indervidual computers like a share folder on there computer like a huge lan for every 1 to enjoy each others files and programs,

Hu? did i do that?
16Mb (EDO RAM), K6-II processor, 2Mb of onboard graphics. 32k dial up modem. 12 speed CD ROM. 5¼-inch floppy drive. 500Mb HDD.

MauriceWinn

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#114959 6-Mar-2008 00:01

Brendon, wouldn't it be easier to make a network and move data via the internet and more easily manage it?    It seems like reinventing the wheel to design a network as you describe.

I don't see why "commercial" is considered worse than "community".    The idea is no doubt that "community" networks would be "free", meaning, as "free speech" now means in New Zealand according to Peter Davis [first man to Helen Clark], "speech which hasn't been paid for".    That's a very strange idea and not at all the normal meaning of "free speech".    Good luck getting "free" community networks built with data management.   Google can do it using advertising to fund it.    Of course local enthusiasts can do it, but it will be only as reliable as the few people who are willing to donate their efforts to keep it going.

Commercial networks have incentive to keep going as long as there is sufficient financial reward to do so.    There are such networks now under development in New Zealand.

In some downtown areas there are https://www.kordiametrowifi.com/ Wi-Fi networks using http://www.RoamAD.com technology.     For a while Orcon was offering free Wi-Fi over the Kordia network though that offer has lapsed.

There are others such as Northland Connect in the Bay of Islands http://nconnect.co.nz/home/index.php and Teldave in the Akaroa area http://www.teldave.co.nz/isp.html which use the Zenbu system to enable people to buy credit on-line and manage the subscriber access.    Those networks can print their own Zenbu vouchers using the Zenbu system for no cost and give those away or sell them to people they wish to provide service to.   They can also make subscribers "friends" of their networks so those subscribers can have free access [though the data is still monitored].     The total cost to such Zenbu Wi-Fi network operators is only $249 for a router and firmware, with NO ongoing charges, contracts or nickel and diming.

You could do the same sort of thing as Teldave and Northland Connect.     The philosohy of Zenbu is to make it really cheap so people can do such things.   The normal telecommunications business approach is to charge like a wounded bull.   For example, Telecom charges casual rates of $10 an hour for Wi-Fi and $8 a megabyte via their EV-DO system.   Casual Zenbu users pay 10c a megabyte.   But "community" users could be free if that's what you want in your network..

gomez

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#116800 15-Mar-2008 12:03

This was also discussed amongst some people down here in Invercargill. There was a bit of planning involved but the whole community basically shut down without anything going ahead.

There was a lot of issues, the main one being funding. But there is a bit of a barrier separating North and South Invercargill and a lack of willingness by owners of large buildings to have a couple of links to join them again. Nothing that a TrangoLink-10 wouldn't fix. :)

I think the project is completely dead now anyway. :(

"Of everything I've lost, I miss my mind the most"