802.11b Urban Network - 3 sq km! 182
wireless junkie writes "NZ Herald has an article
about a 3 sq km wireless network. Roaming, seamless handoff, VoIP, and its only the demonstration network. 100 sq/km coming soon (according to the RoamAD site) MiniStumbler on an iPaq shows a whole heap of signal on and near downtown Queen Street. All I want for Christmas..."
Re:sq/km ? (Score:2)
Re:sq/km ? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:sq/km ? (Score:3, Funny)
km is not area; it is length.
km^2 is area.
If you are going to mock a typo, at least get it right.
Re:sq/km ? (Score:1)
you know squares/geeks per Km..
and lets not start the square/geek debate
Both of you are wrong (Score:2)
Specs or Min pre req ? (Score:2)
Re:sq/km ? (Score:1)
Re:sq/km ? (Score:2)
Christmas? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Christmas? (Score:2)
Still, the same is true of the internet.
Connecting to internet == connecting to wireless net
Re:Christmas? (Score:1)
So we can't say that there is absolutely no security, but we also can't say that there security is any good either unless we get to look at it, which we probably can't since it's proprietary.
Re:Christmas? (Score:2)
This isn't some person's private network... This is an experiment in making a large-scale wireless network to cover a city-scale area or beyond. Think of it as something similar to Ricochet. And if you use it, it's up to you to secure your machine... if you leave it unsecure, sure, someone will hack in.
I'm wondering how they limit down access to this network, so only paying subscribers can get on. Will it be PPPoE? Or maybe MAC address-based authentication (only specified MAC addresses are allowed to get onto these access points). How do they do this on a large scale with >1000 users? Most access points only handle a couple hundred MAC address for that type of access.
Sounds like a great idea though. Imagine eventually this 802.11b network spanning an entire continent, with little to no roaming or coverage gaps. It should be good for at least 5 years, until the average Internet feed for a home user becomes >11 Mbps, then they'll be needing to replace the infrastructure (or be smart now and just make the whole infrastructure combination 802.11a and b access point, to handle the 55 Mbps 802.11a gives).
Re:Christmas? (Score:1)
Nudes in Traffic (Score:1)
Re:Nudes in Traffic (Score:2)
Me and the guys over at the dashpc [dashpc.com] site would definately have a problem with a law like that. I know of one module (that I use for demos) that features [said content] on the displays. It really goes ever quite well actually...
DISCLAIMER: I'm the car owner (and site maintainer).
Re:Nudes in Traffic (Score:1)
Pringles (Score:1)
Re:Pringles (Score:1)
The most wastefully wrapped laxatives on the planet.
Re:Pringles (Score:3, Funny)
Dave
Re:Pringles (Score:1)
What?? You got no iced tea, Dr. Pepper, or ABC's & 123's (Chef Boyardee). But I do miss the kebabs... (yes I know they're not native NZ cuisine, but NZ has them and we--US--don't)
Re:Pringles (Score:1)
Does the US have Hokey Pokey? Best icecream flavour!!!
UNITS!!! (Score:4, Insightful)
km^2 (square kilometers) != sq/km (square/kilometer)
And if only the slashdot editors would... shit, i'm preaching to the choir, aren't I.
Re:UNITS!!! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:UNITS!!! (Score:1)
Re:UNITS!!! (Score:2)
Seriously, what does the unit "square" measure? I've never heard of it.
eh, no.. (Score:1)
sq/km = square kilometers
2 km^2 = 4 square kilometers.
Re:UNITS!!! (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:UNITS!!! (Score:2)
The one that makes sense is the one that's grammatically incorrect. Makes my head hurt.
Re:UNITS!!! (Score:2, Insightful)
Anyway, why should thousands of readers have to guess what the story is about when the single author could have written it properly in the first place?
Re:UNITS!!! (Score:1)
Exactly. They're fucknuts.
commercial applications (Score:1)
Re:commercial applications (Score:2)
+1 FUNNY (Score:1)
but if you disagree, feel free to ignore me.
Indiana (Score:1)
Re:Indiana (Score:2)
You need Pringles cans!
Get 9 cans. Set up 8 of 'em together at 45-degree angles, so they form a "wireless hub". Connect them all together and you can communicate in a 5-mile radius of your location. Now just find someone within that range who can get high-speed Internet access, and use the 9th Pringles can to connect to them.
Then you could offer wireless access to others through your "hub", and all chip in for the cost of the service.
Re:Indiana (Score:2)
sq/km? (Score:3, Interesting)
seriously now...this sounds kind of neat. cellular WiFi in a sense.
i wonder what kind of interference it would cause to other devices on the same frequency (other WiFI devices not associated with their network, cordless phones, etc).
and wouldn't this make drive by hacking easier? heck, you don't even need to drive by.
I wonder how bandwidth changes with distance from the transmitters.
Re:sq/km? (Score:1)
It's the inverse of km^2. 1 sq/km is a square with side length of one kilometer. This unit of measurement is odd in that it increases as the area described decreases, but it's popular in Bizarro World and on Slashdot Island (where hamburgers eat you, and people throw ducks at balloons, and caching is impossible, and trying to moderate fairly gets you banned. Huzzah!) Therefore 3 sq/km is 1/3 km^2. What the article describes is 3 km^2, which translates to 1/3 sq/km -- that's the real typo in this article's title, not the units. No...no, not the units. What? Fifty dollars? Getoutaheeee...
Re:sq/km? (Score:1)
Uh...who printed the entire Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series on the HP 4100 in full duplex?
Re:sq/km? (Score:1)
801.11 Standard (Score:3, Insightful)
By offering it as a wide user base, it allows a malicous user to have a network of people to choose from. Due to the general publics disregard of security, updates and firewalls, this make them sitting ducks to becoming pawns for a Denial of service attack. How long would it be before hackers have a huge network of computers to do their bidding, by simply making a few stokes of the pen on his PDA?
Re:801.11 Standard (Score:2)
Re:801.11 Standard (Score:2)
Insightful? Gaggme with a spoon.
Nobody better tell this guy about the existing network of dial-up nodes that pervades almost every corner of every country on the planet...
That shares with this one the need for client authentication, the prevalence of users with little knowledge of security, and the tendency of machines to come on and off the network.
The only particularly significant difference, which will hopefully be mitigated by development and adoption of effective encryption, and which in the meantime has little relevance to the substance of the comment, is the relative ease of snooping.
Re:801.11 Standard (Score:1)
I am willing to accept the fact that not everyone will be kind in their usage of my public offering. By sharing something that I believe everyone should have access to, it makes me feel a bit better knowing that I have helped out the global community as a whole.
Wifi Zealot (Score:4, Funny)
1)Today, Wifi Zealot wants to test his new ultra wide wifi 2
2)Wifi Zealot heads for his local $tarbuck$
3)Unfortunately, the connection has to be shared with 120 Mac Biggots, 120 Linux Zealots and 200 fat MSCE neighbours
4)Linux Zealot explains WiFi Zealot that after all 75bPs is pretty 7331 and just enough for surfing gopher.
--
moderators : Linux Zealot is a linux zealot who appears frequently on adequacy [adequacy.org]
Re:Wifi Zealot (Score:3, Funny)
What is this gopher you are talking about? Is that like a new plugin for my IE internet browser? Can I download MP3s on it since my Napster connection has been down lately?
Re:Wifi Zealot (Score:2)
What is this gopher you are talking about? Is that like a new plugin for my IE internet browser? Can I download MP3s on it since my Napster connection has been down lately?
It's kinda like the Lnyx Wide Web - it's more efficient. Type in ' lynx microsoft.com' and you'll see what I meen. It's the same old Microsoft.com but with 50% less anti-trust. 'lynx slashdot.com' even has less speloing errors!
Re:Wifi Zealot (Score:1)
Re:Wifi Zealot (Score:1)
-D
Recently investigated GPRS / CDCP (Score:4, Insightful)
I can switch to a GSM network (Rogers/AT&T is rolling out GSM as we speak) and get 53kbps of always-on internet. Not fantastic, but not bad.
Unfortunatly they charge per Kilobyte. Yes. You heard me, Per Kilobyte. Even a few cents per K it adds up quick and becomes pointless.
Ok, so check out another provider. Ok, GSM/GPRS service as well. Always on, blah blah, $50/month unlimited. Ok, good deal. fine print: for 12 months. After that, who knows? They revert to their regular rates(?), which aren't any better than Roger/AT&T.
Ok, so how about CDCP? Hmm, about $50/month but it's 19200 Maximum. They add compression, but that won't solve the whole speed issue. And of course, only works with appriopriate modem, dead end technology, etc.
No wonder these companies can't recover costs... nobody will pay the rates they want.
Re:Recently investigated GPRS / CDCP (Score:1)
Re:Recently investigated GPRS / CDCP (Score:1)
Since GPRS is based on GSM, Europe & Asia should be way ahead of North American when it comes to GPRS.
CDPD is another wireless data technology capable of surfing the web that isn't really all that expensive. (in a relative sort of way,) It's slow so that impeded its growth. Also it doesn't work with cell phones. (At least not to my knowledge.) It's rapidly being replaced by CDMA & GPRS.
Not really that interesting.... (Score:1)
Re:Not really that interesting.... (Score:2)
WEP has security issues, but none that can't be overcome with some creativity (VPN perhaps?).
BTW, WiFi is broadband, 3G is not.
Geez....
PS Nice Troll
Re:Not really that interesting.... (Score:2)
Re:Not really that interesting.... (Score:2)
3G is low speed and it doesn't exist everywhere, nor will it be ubiquitous. There are a few popular places where companies are trying to roll it out, but the overall cost is somewhere north of $100 billion to get major cities hooked up.
3G is microcell based, meaning that you have relatively high power transmission compared with Wi-Fi, but large enough cells that you have a lot of people sharing a very few available channels. Thus when more than a handful of people are using 3G data services, the 100 Kbps or 300 Kbps or whatever they claim today as a maximum is split down into 3K chunks.
With Wi-Fi, because it's picocell, tiny itty bitty cells, you can typically increase density (and the equipment's cheaper and requires fewer towers or other spots to make work) and keep overall bandwidth closer to the 4 Mbps that most devices throughput.
Great, soon we are back to 300 Bps (Score:2)
Actually... (Score:2)
For those of you old enough, remember when it seemed like every town (even the small ones) had at least one BBS to dial into, and inter-node email through FIDOnet at night (long distance rates being cheaper)? Couldn't something similar to this be done with WiFi? Hear me out:
Imagine if every individual set up a WiFi hub node, with some kind of high-gain omni, and kept it open. This hub is connected to a web server - and NOTHING ELSE. It isn't connected to broadband, or even to the individuals home network (or only through a good firewall). Basically, it is a lone machine.
Others set up similar machines, people in the immediate neighborhood (both fixed and mobile stumblers) could "connect" at leisure, just like the old BBS's - except without needing major numbers of phone lines, etc. Maybe the website on the server could show how to build such a system cheaply, where other nodes are, and where intermediate nodes are needed to bridge gaps in an area. These nodes could then form a more "permanent" mesh.
Ok, perhaps this is what is basically happenning already - but what many of them do is have broadband connections that aren't legally allowed to share. I guess what I am aiming for is more of a return to the grassroots local scene, and perhaps certain nodes could be "volunteers" to "FIDOnet" (just the term - not actual protocols, of course) packages of emails, etc, across the internet via broadband/etc connections in bursts, to other nodes that could disseminate the contents of the package. IE, make it as legal as possible - but still "open/free"?
Re:Actually... (Score:2)
THIS IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO GET PEOPLE IN HOUSTON TO DO FOR MONTHS.
Help me! I am trying everything I can think of to get people to participate in something like this. I get everything from "that's illegal!", "if it worked, why isn't it here?", and "yeah, until they start charging per month" to "wireless sucks, my uncle bob tried to do it in his steel shed and it didn't work, loser".
I am even willing to personally finance the first few hubs, just to get some momentum, but I just can't find anyone that cares.
Re:Great, soon we are back to 300 Bps (Score:1)
Having large local Wireless networks doesn't sound like such a hugely bad idea, provided that somebody is willing to pick up the tab for the access, and maintain the security. Knowledgable hackers will probably get in for free, but that's true to a lot of situations.
Doors and locks only keep honest people honest...
perhaps the WiFi script kiddies should dedicate some time to learning how to create security instead of break it, it might get them some local recognition, and looks better on a resume...
It's not that new... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:It's not that new... (Score:2)
That's a hell of a job they're pulling there then, because I have troubles to get the signal clear in my living room from a 10 meters distance (with two walls of reinforced concrete between the gateway and the livingroom and a intel wireless gateway).
I don't understand how people can make such long distances, they must use very expensive gateways then or many "cheap" ones!
Re:It's not that new... (Score:2)
In wifi you definatly get what you pay for, and there is a reason you save >50% on "other" brands
Ok I'll bite (Score:2, Insightful)
The problem is (and i've seen 4 of these already) that you're defining it as a count of something per unit of area.
A km is NOT a unit of area measurement, it is a unit of linear measurement... Single mono-dimensional geometry here people. I know you USians have trouble with the metric system, but c'mon... not being able to tell the difference between a square kilometre and a kilometre is like not being able to tell the difference between an mile and a sqaure mile.
Quit complaining when you can't even get it right...
PS. I may have spelled kilometre wrong, depending on which spelling of the word you use (i.e. kilometer)
Re:Ok I'll bite (Score:1)
Sorry I meant 'Simple' mono-dimensional geometry
Re:Ok I'll bite (Score:1)
First, it's Americans!!!
Second, the only time we use the metric system at all is for drugs, and that's just weight measurment. This whole length thing is confusing...
Re:Ok I'll bite (Score:1)
To the rest of the world (including much of Canada, where I'm from) it's USians.
I am (North) American, people in Brazil are (South) American. I, for one, don't appreciate being forced onto the same level as you just because I live on the same land mass as you.
And yeah, I can see how the metric system may be difficult for you, I've always found base 10 systems difficult myself. All that adding a zero or removing a zero just to go up/down (respectively) in an order of magnitude is so confusing.
5280 ft/mile is so much easier than 1000 metres/kilometre...
Re:Ok I'll bite (Score:1)
PS. I may have spelled kilometre wrong, depending on which spelling of the word you use (i.e. kilometer)
Apologizing for spelling kilometer wrong is fine, but you should also apologize for "sqaure"
riiiiiiiiight (Score:1)
Re:riiiiiiiiight (Score:2)
Re:riiiiiiiiight (Score:2)
answer to the last 100 feet problem. (Score:1)
During the last few years cable companies and the like spent a lot of money laying the backbone of their networks. In the city the last part was getting old buildings wired. This to me seems like a bigger expense.
A you have to interact with the customer a lot. Schedule times, get access to the building, etc. Then somehow wire the thing.
I think an easier solution would be for these high speed providers to hook up key buildings in neighboor hoods with good wireless equipment. Then ship the modems in the mail to the customer and they are all set to go.
Eventaully we need to start fiber or at least cat 5 through these building. Or rather run piping so re-wiring in the future isn't such a problem, time for new building codes.
For rural customers, I would think a chain approach might be the best. House 1 is hooked up high speed and then relays to the next and so on and so on. Of course being on the end of the chain is no fun, but it might be faster then dialup.
proprietary extension to 802.11b (Score:2, Insightful)
In my opinion, any company that sells a proprietary extension to a standard will most likely fail, esp. when the standard is free (free spectrum, free implementations, just buy the radio). After all, there are plenty of better, proprietary networking standards, but we all use TCP/IP.
Re:proprietary extension to 802.11b (Score:2)
<BLATENT PLUG>
Enter the company I work for =) [meshnetworks.com]. We have a software overlay that sits on 802.11b and allows for multi-hop, etc. It uses feedback from the card to find the best path back to an AP through multiple hops, at the highest datarate possible. I've been deploying a beta version of our software in-house, and although I may be a bit biased, it really is a boon for WiFi. Seamless handoff, multihop, the works.
I might also point out we have a solution that supports mobility at highway speeds. From what little RF theory I know, doppler shift will kill 802.11b at anything over walking speeds. I routinely demo this technology to different companies on a local highway. And I can promise this, the tagline "T1 in your pocket" is all too apt. Even if driving around can be monotonous, reading
<BLATENT PLUG>
I might also point out that there is a project for Linux called MobileMesh [mitre.org] that is doing a lot of this for Linux. There you go, open source and everything =).
Re:proprietary extension to 802.11b (Score:2)
Exactly, the problem is rather signal reflection off buildings, etc.
Thus you have several "copies" or echos of a signal overlaying each other, each with a different path and travel time to the receiver. If you move (drive in a car), the path lengths of these signals shift all the time and the outcoming result is a horrible mess.
Difficult to decode depending on your modulation.
Most of the tests I know where 802.11b is used in cars, it works as long as they have clear line of sight, because the direct signal is stronger than the echos. But as soon as a big truck moves in between you, thats pretty much it.
Citynets (Score:3, Interesting)
This has got to be the RIAA absolute worst nightmare. With the Internet if you set up a service that an anonymous person can find and download files from, then so can they and they send you a C&D letter. With multi-user anonymous LANs, not only would they have to have a presense in each city, but even if they do, once they know that IP 198.168.31.331 is trading the whole Metallica collection, they have no way to track you down.
Medium range wireless offers an opportunity to remove, at least locally, the last barrier to a truly free internet : corporate/government regulation of the backbone.
Re:Citynets (Score:2)
So I'm thinking of end users getting these things and cooperating with each other.
Nationwide Wireless Network (Score:2)
I know a rep from a computer company who just came from Boston down to our office in Connecticut to advertise some of his latest line. He always has his Netstumbler w/GPS running on the road, and when someone calls him, he just looks at NetStumbler to see where the nearest access point he has previously passed is, and heads there... the just pulls over, hops on their network, and uses his VPN connection to do the rest. He said the farthest he usually has to travel on the MassPike to find a hotspot is 10 minutes away. Not much along the 395 corridor yet, though.
Granted, these are corporate networks that aren't using WEP, and ethically he SHOULDN'T be getting on their networks.
Now if something like an ISP or maybe a company like this one in New Zealand were offering similar service for mobile users like him, or if the cell companies would quit advertising 3G and actually IMPLEMENT it for mobile users to use with laptops in this area and at a reasonable price (say, all the Internet you can browse for $49.95/month), then there wouldn't be any ethical issues.
Not just ethically.. (Score:2)
It's not cool, it's sleazy. Especially for a professional.
3km? Try 35 km (Score:1)
NewGenWireless.net
P.S., We setup other ISP networks too.
Urban network? (Score:2)
Excellent. (Score:1)
Re:Excellent. (Score:1)
128bps ADSL with a 5Mb limit anyone? Or 512kbps cable with a 1Mb limit?
At least the food's good
Re:Excellent. (Score:1)
You can also get the full-rate aDSL for a few extra $$.
Credible sources (Score:2)
Any Kiwis read Slashdot and can confirm coverage? Or is this Slashdot-by-press-release?
NetStumbler? (Score:1)
I've never ran NetStumbler, but it finds access points, has GPS support, makes maps, and will run on Linux PDA's (iPAQ, Zaurus).
cell phones are bad ... (Score:1)
--
"Proprietary techniques" (Score:1)
RoamAD has succeeded in extending and enhancing the utility and performance of 802.11b, while maintaining its integrity and compatibility with the 802.11b standard being built into millions of mobile devices around the world.
Uhh, there's nothing "proprietary" about any of this. It works with all the little WiFi devices we already have. These geniuses just built a backbone to connect all their "multipoint" WiFi access points together. Whoopee.
Re:"Proprietary techniques" (Score:1)
new zealand.. (Score:1)
Re:Confused???? (Score:2)
Re:Off Topic Question about New Zealand (Score:1)
And for those morons that think it is Australia, it is not too similar... It is 1500 miles away and much more like England.
Re:Off Topic Question about New Zealand (Score:1)
Anyway - it's a great place to live
I'd recommend New Zealand to anyone - especially Wellington - Wellington rocks.
Re:Off Topic Question about New Zealand (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Off Topic Question about New Zealand (Score:1)
I wonder of people think about exchange rates more frequently when the unit of currency uses the same word.
I'm a kiwi who was foolish enough to move to the US. Well
Re:Off Topic Question about New Zealand (Score:1)
Sigh. I'm in the top 20% of NZ earners and I earn (a lot) less than an 'average' American.
And the weather is terrible in Wellington...is there no end to the indignities??!! Time to move to Europe...
Re:Off Topic Question about New Zealand (Score:1)
Move a wee bit to the south-east on your map and you'd be better set.
Re:My karma be damned... (Score:1)
Hell, you could insert just about anything there!