Monthly Archive for June, 2004
Over at Metrix, we just started carrying the new ZyXEL P2000W SIP Phones. They’re extremely cool devices, and I’m amazed at the quality of the calls as well as the crazy potential of a phone that can just attach to any random network and dial out. I’ve been using FWD as a free PSTN bridge, but have also registered my SIP on e164 and tried out like2fone’s free service as well. I’ll probably have an asterisk box up within the month, but I will need to scrounge around the house for something x86 to build it on since I haven’t been able to find any fx0 minipci yet.
If you want to see what the guts look like, check out the ZyXELPrestige2000W page at SeattleWireless.
Went to City Hall again today to see if there were any updates to Resolution #30684, and sure enough, there were. Jim Compton proposed some language changes over the week, and it looks as if the new resolution specifies that the Task Force will be creating a document to explore feasibility on a network using municipal resources rather than a municipally owned network. The resolution was voted on by the Utilities and Technology committee and will be brought forward to a vote by the full city council.
Hot damn!
At 4:58AM, the FreeNetworks site redesign went live. There will be more throughout the week, but go check out what’s there so far. I really like it, but of course, I’m completely biased.
The burritos have arrived, and we’re locked in to the EFF. The FreeNetworks site will not go back up and resume it’s unmaintained anarchy any longer. There will still be community maintained sections like the scoop and the wiki, but the main pages will reflect the FreeNetworks mission, ideals and documents created by the organization. Yesterday’s action items have been defined, assigned and the low hanging fruit is being picked as I type.
Tom Higgins has been given the Program Manager / Cat Wrangler title, and will no doubt wonder how he got suckered into such a huge job in the days to come.
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Right now I’m listening to Wendy Seltzer of the EFF talk about how Internet Service Providers can protect themselves from legal liability while still keeping your customers happy, in both a legal and technical sense. In a nutshell, it’s all about the logs.
Today has been great, and a lot has been covered, but mostly we have focused on organization, outreach, and assigning tasks to topics. Tomorrow we dive into tech, but tonight we drink. |
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| I’m sitting at the Meet n’ Greet for the Freenetworks Summit in SF. We’re about to go get pizza and beer, but first, we’re playing with our favorite toy, a combination of etherpeg, kismet and my portable projector. I will be updating my gallery throughout the Summit, whenever I get a chance, but for the latest images, check out http://16photos.com |
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Not to be confused with this weekend’s FreeNetworks Summit in SF, the Champaign Urbana Wireless Network (CUWiN) is throwing a ‘National’ CWN Summit this August in Urbana, IL. It looks to be a bit different than the Summits up to this point, as it has some funding and is catering to the non-networking-but-interested crowd.
I’ve included the full text of the email invite below.
*** PLEASE FORWARD *** *** PLEASE FORWARD *** *** PLEASE FORWARD ***
The Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network (CUWiN), Prairienet, and
Free Press invite you to join us for a national Community Wireless
Networking Summit August 20-22, 2004 in Urbana, IL. “Making the
Connection: The 2004 National Summit for Community Wireless Networks” will
focus on grassroots action, impacting national regulations and policies,
and building a coalition of local groups, researchers, policy leaders,
decision-makers, and community activists.
It’s time we organized to take the public airwaves back from corporate
interests. Community Wireless Networks offer more services for cheaper
prices and are owned by the communities that deploy them. Anyone
interested in making the “public interest” the number one priority in our
wireless telecommunications infrastructure should definitely attend this
summit.
Community Wireless Developers from across North America will be
demonstrating cutting-edge technologies; researchers and programmers will
discuss recent breakthroughs and developments; and policy-makers and
funders will strategize with participants on how to launch new
initiatives.
More summit information is available online at:
http://www.communitywirelesssummit.org/
Registration for the weekend-long Making the Connection Summit only costs
$30 for students and low-income, $75 for all others. Register online at:
http://www.communitywirelesssummit.org/register/wireless.php
Have question or want to present? Send us an e-mail at:
info@communitywirelesssummit.org
See you in Urbana,
–Sascha Meinrath & Michael Brunelle
Community Wireless Network Summit Co-Organizers
Today at the City Council meeting, Jim Compton proposed a resolution (Council Resolution 30684) to create a task force to investigate WiFi, WiMAX, fiber and powerline networking. The goal as Compton sees it, is to create a city wide (border to border) wireless network that will utilize the miles of fiber that the city already has an asset, and create a tool that drives education, the economy, innovation and broadband applications, and is both equitable and accessible by nature.
Representatives of Tacoma’s Click Network talked briefly about their network’s uses and applications (local loop with multiple internet providers, cable tv utility, meter reading), as well as the path they took to achieve it.
CTTAB was also in attendance and helped clarify some points about municipal owned network vs network using municipal resources, and how such a network could connect with existing networks, private and public.
One thing that this meeting showed, is that the city is not only interested in wireless, but it is interested in doing it in the right way. This was not a call for press releases, or a ‘lets throw up a hotspot’ meeting, but rather an announcement that they’re really thinking about it, and they plan on throwing resources at it because it’s important. Hopefully they will get the right people in the room.
Thanks to all the people that mailed me this morning with a link to this article in the PI. If it wasn’t so vague, I probably wouldn’t have gone.
Update: Here is the full text of the resolution.
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