[ILUG] Open wireless networks

[Andrew Gallagher]

I was involved in a stillborn project in Belfast a few years back. The
plan was not a mesh network, but a split-level architecture with
separate local access and backhaul. This gives a more robust network at
the expense of flexibility. Unfortunately the need for two APs at each
node made outlay twice as expensive (and this was in the days of
100-euro access points). We did have vague plans to make WAN access free
(as in beer) and charge for internet access, but nobody was willing to
be the ISP. Ultimately, buy-in was our problem too.

Andrew Gallagher