Community Wireless Links

This is a good starting point for those interested in the issues and technologies that are used when building community wireless networks (or wireless networks of any sort). As my experience with setting these networks up grows, I'll be posting my results here. There's a lot interest in the local community here in Cape Breton to get a project like this up and running! Hopefully this will encourage others to look into what's involved and help develop the information and wisdom to make it work.

Sydney Wireless

Another top notch, wonderfully organized site to get broadband distributed at a reasonable cost over Sydney, Austrailia. We're trying to something similar in Sydney, Nova Scotia, so the name is perfect! Too bad they beat us to the domain. Slashdot also has some discussion on this effort. Commerical projects that I've worked on in the past could only wish for a site this well set up and organized.

Seattle Wireless

This is one of the largest and best organized community wireless projects and has served as a workig example for many others. Lots of information on the concept, their philosophy, and links to other sites.

O'Reilly Wireless DevNet

This page is a link to the experiments and articles published in relation to O'Reilly's experimentation with wireless netowrks, and is another great starting point. Lots of good technical info too.

Antennas, & WLAN Security Explained

This is a great introduction to the role that antenna design and construction plays in building and operating WLANs. Covers a high-level introduction to antenna radiation patterns, why external antennas are a good thing, ways antennas can be used to minimize the possibility of network intrusion, or maximizing the coverage radius. There's also general discussion of the ISM bands and related regulations.

Build a +12dB Pringles Can Waveguide Antenna

How to build a highly directional antenna for around $20 using commonly available materials, like a tall Pringles can. Great project for those building homebrew networks, and learn a lot about antenna theory along the way. "Over a clear line of sight, with short antenna cable runs, a 12db to 12db can-to-can shot should be able to carry an 11Mbps link well over ten miles. "

Chronicling 100Mbit Community Fiber: Grassroots high speed networking

A good piece on setting up community networking in Sweeden. A collection of people set up a working 100Mbit fiber network in their neighbourhood to solve the problem of "last mile" delivery themselves. Lots of good piecetures detailing equipment and installation locations. There's also some good slashdot discussion on the topic. The targetted prices were around ~$200/house with a $10/mo access fee. Good ammo for the "it's too expensive" arguement.

Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance

This is the organization which looks after arranging certifications to ensure interopability between products and companies. It's a great resource for looking at all the manufacturers of wireless networking gear and find out what products are new and what's coming. You can get a robust listing of certified products for 802.11 networking.

InfoWorld: Parasitic Grid movement may threathen telecom profits

This is a good overview to the current state of the free 802.11 wireless movement in North America and provides some insight into things we might see soon. Slashdot had some good discussion on this article.

Securing Wireless Networks

An overview of some of the more popular techniques for securing wireless networks, along with of the new protocols and technologies that are upcoming.

Wireless Community Networks - A Guide for Libraries, Educators, and Community Leaders

This is a downloadable book which discusses how wireless networks are put together, some of the concepts of wireless networking, etc.

Wired News Article - "Free the Wireless Net!"

Disusses a long-running attempt at sharing wireless bandwidth in London, England with the ultimate goal of going city-wide. Also recommended that you visit Consume.Net, a node registry for the project.

Google Wireless Data Communications Repository

The Google directory for wireless data communications. Lists many of the commerical hardware providers and other commerical groups providing technology and expertise in this arena.

Slashdot - Wireless For Fun and/or No Profit

A good techie-community discussion on the impacts and starting points of building free-to-use wireless networks. Lots of viewpoints and starting links. Slashdot also has many other discussions about other wireless articles.

Steve Manley (smanley@nyx.net)
Last Modified: January 23, 2002