[ILUG] Open wireless networks

[Paul Scollon]

I had approached the local council and commerical manager in Dundalk 
about doing an open mesh network as part of Dundalk Town's 
redevelopment, and got the green light for it. However, half way through 
the planning stage they decided to buy a solution and pay a lot of money 
for vendor support and a contractor to install, and tie authentication 
into the local library (no membership, no access).

My proposal website can be found at

http://www.niceonedundalk.net/

this served as both an explanation of the idea (read it, saves me typing 
here) and it would also be the first page users saw when connecting to 
the network. When asked, local businesses said they would gladly host 
mesh points and give over "unused" bandwidth to the project. The 
hardware is all form http://www.open-mesh.com and bought through a UK 
reseller. They even have outdoor enclosures with POE converters 
(incredibly cheap for POE too)

My tech blog for the project is here:

http://www.niceonedundalk.net/blog/

I have several open mesh units and have run tests around DkIT Campus 
where I work during the day. The proof of concept is sound. It's buy-in  
that is the problem.

I now intend to write about this project in my final year dissertation 
"/a blueprint for low cost urban wifi based on mesh technology/" as part 
of my part-time studies in DkIT. I also intend to investigate a walled 
garden social network for people using the wireless network, as well as 
a location aware app for Android that might alert shoppers of special 
offers they are interested in (according to their profile) as they pass 
the premises on foot.

In my initial research I have found that every attempt to get a project 
like this off the ground in Ireland fails, generally from lack of buy-in 
and fear of open technologies. Other countries don't seem to share the 
same concerns, but then again, Ireland like to throw money at solutions :(

Paul



On 19/10/11 19:06, David Pintor wrote:
> Hi guys,
>
> I'm currently doing a [very high level] study about open wireless networks
> around the world. It's fascinating seeing that in places like South
> Africa<https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Ptawug>or
> India<http://www.airjaldi.org/>  there are existing projects that allow
> people to get connected for a very low cost.
>
> I was wondering if anyone knows about any project like this in Ireland and
> whether are there any legal issues/restrictions/etc to this?
>
> So far I've only found irishwan (http://www.irishwan.ie/) but it looks
> pretty much abandoned...
>
> Thanks,
>
> David