SeattleWireless Node Fundraiser

Thu Dec 1 13:49:40 PST 2005

I am not in Seattle but I still found this reply interesting.  I 
don't mean to detract from the fundraising for the node.  I think 
such things are fun.

Am I correct in saying:
The goal of a "freenet" is not a collection of hotspots but a 
collection of point to point pipes existing alongside and if need 
be in the absence of the wired internet.  The collection hotspots 
attached to this freenet is secondary.

I am a bit weak in the netowrking area so please clarify some 
things for me.
1.  Can SeattleWireless exist without The Internet?  (say in a 
disaster)
2.  How is routing handled?  or for voip things like STUN? 
unfortunately things like skype don't work without contacting the 
Mothership and is not truly decentralized.
3.  Could one attach to the freenet and also attach to the internet 
(through a home DSL/cable connection)?  Would/could some external 
traffic then be routed through my node?
4.  In the city where I lived a local ham group put a node quite 
high up a tower but they ran it under part 97 instead of 15 which 
puts quite a number of limitations on it.  A few p2p links were 
established, but I never understood a big picture of what they 
wanted to do with it.  I was not in LOS with it, so I couldn't get 
on, but it didn't seem like you could do much with it.  It sounds 
like you have quite a bit larger critical mass and don't run under 
ham restrictions.

Ed

>Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2005 20:06:30 -0800
>From: Casey Halverson <spaceneedle at gmail.com>
>Subject: Re: SeattleWireless Node Fundraiser
>To: SeattleWireless Development List <dev at seattlewireless.net>
>Message-ID:
>	<22d274c60511302006l7343f6f0nb0af89403a7aa72d at mail.gmail.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
>SeattleWireless is not a "free internet hotspot provider".  We are
>simply not in this business.  Although many of us do operate open,
>free access points in high profile locations as a jump-on point to 
>our
>network -- and perhaps the internet too.
>
>SeattleWireless is in the business of building lots of point-to-
>point
>pipes in the Seattle area.  Transit on these pipes is, of course,
>free.  What do you do with these pipes?  well, its up to you.  
>Think
>of it as a giant LAN that spiderwebs across the city.
>
>VoIP, video conferencing, high speed data transfers, games, etc. --
>
>all at nearly no latency.  Some of our sites are/can have backup
>power, which also makes our network resilient against natural or
>man-made disasters.
>
>A bunch of linksys hot-spots scattered around a city connected to
>commodity internet is completely useless during these times -- or 
>any
>for that matter.
>
>The problem with building such a network in the Seattle area is 
>the
>limitations of line-of-sight.  We simply have not found a high 
>enough
>location yet to really reach any point in the city.  This new 
>tower
>will give us this ability.
>
>This new tower can also facilitate ad-hoc tie-ins, when needed.  
>This
>will not only make next field day a blast (yes, its happening 
>again
>next year, i promise), but it makes emergency response a breeze
>because it is so flexible.
>
>All that is required is a small, book-size directional antenna and 
>a
>linux router that runs on about the same power as a nightlight.  
>Or
>perhaps a laptop with a book-size antenna attached.
>
>Sounds exciting to me!
>
>On 11/29/05, Daevid Vincent <daevid at daevid.com> wrote:
>> Can someone explain to me how this "works". What I mean is, 
>there are plenty
>> of free coffee shops and such. I almost never have trouble 
>getting online in
>> the city.
>>
>> What happens when you put this node up? Is it just a 'free node' 
>sitting
>> there and I'll be able to jump on it from anywhere in range? 
>What is that
>> range? And how do these other nodes in the network apply? Can I 
>drive around
>> the city and be online without interruption? Where exactly is it 
>(on a map)?
>> What is the radius of this proposed node alone? What will be the 
>coverage
>> area with this new node in place and considering all the other 
>nodes that
>> will be linked to it (on a map)?
>>
>> The Wiki page doesn't really answer any questions...
>> http://seattlewireless.net/fundraiser/
>>
>> I'm all about supporting a good cause. And I'm all about the 
>belief that
>> wifi should be free (I run a Linux box with 8dbi antenna in 
>Redmond, and
>> it's an open node). I'm not trying to troll, I'm just confused 
>as to what
>> the benefit of this is when there are thousands of open nodes in 
>the city
>> (albeit not linked together).
>>
>> Sincerely,
>>
>> Daevid.
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Dev mailing list
>> Dev at seattlewireless.net
>> http://seattlewireless.net/mailman/listinfo/dev
>>

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