How to set up a community wireless network

DanGerMus

Hey guys i'm just wondering what kind of equipment,technology is involved in setting up a wireless network with a range of say 500-1000meters. also what about even longer ranges. where would i have to be looking.

Wcool

Just for starters here are 2 links to 2 wifi amateur networks.

They both have sections on what hardware they use.

http://www.irishwan.ie/forum/index.php?board=20.0
http://doc.thewan.net/wiki/index.php/Hardware

No doubt people will help you if you ask specific questions.

bushy...

This would probably give you a better idea : http://www.spancillhill.blogsome.com , the guys doing it decided to try and document it a bit for lads like yourself.
As far as gear goes , its not really worth your while buying new household APs and butchering them anymore, besides some have upload problems when you do that.

humaxf1

speaking of outdoor wireless...

Does anyone know of a website where there is detailed setup/configuration details of such a project?

I'd like to get my head around how this stuff actually works especially the client hardware...wrap boards etc. Do they just act like a bridge like what you would use with an XBOX to make it wireless? Is this kinda similar to what IBB use?

About 4 years ago this guy had a 1Mb connection from ESAT which he was redistrubuting to locals via 802.11b. He had a biggish box screwed onto his chimney stack and an omni aerial connected into it and CAT5 down to what was prob a router? (I was very clueless about wifi back then). Clients had an MMDS dish in their roofs and coax down to their wireless card. At the time he was 2 streets away from my house and it worked pretty well. Download speed was about 30KBps which was a BIG boost from my dialup. He has since moved and I switched to IBB breeze which is working quite well ATM.

Anyone with info appreciated

TIA

kmick

Have a look at www.fon.com its not very long range but if someone has an existing broadband connection they can share it with their neighbours. Its a cheap solution at 30 Euro. Apparently if you fill plastic bottle with tinfoil and put it on your antenna it increases the range.

Peanut

humaxf1 wrote:

Does anyone know of a website where there is detailed setup/configuration details of such a project?

There should be numerous... probably a case of information overload though!

humaxf1 wrote:

I'd like to get my head around how this stuff actually works especially the client hardware...wrap boards etc. Do they just act like a bridge like what you would use with an XBOX to make it wireless?

Yes, when you setup a client in bridged mode then its pretty much just the same as setting up an XBOX or whatever.

A simple wireless setup with outdoor clients would be everyone on the same subnet, connecting to a WRAP box or whatever setup in Access Point mode, and each client in Wireless Bridge mode. Then something doing address translation and dhcp stuff between the access point and the internet (or you could just use the access point to do this as well).

If you are only going 1km, you don't need to mess around with external antenna, better to get clients units with built-in panel antenna, so you only run cat-5 cable inside the client premises.

The main problem with all this stuff now is interference, if you are anywhere near a big urban centre then forget about making reliable long-range connections on the unlicensed frequencies, however it can still work quite well for shorter ranges.

humaxf1

cheers peanut

I see you are in celbridge! Do you know of www.alternative-broadband.com ?

bushy...

humaxf1 wrote:

speaking of outdoor wireless...

Does anyone know of a website where there is detailed setup/configuration details of such a project?

I'd like to get my head around how this stuff actually works especially the client hardware...wrap boards etc. Do they just act like a bridge like what you would use with an XBOX to make it wireless? Is this kinda similar to what IBB use?

The basic idea of a wrap board etc is that it is a small computer , has ram , cpu , ethernet , everything except video output. They also have slots that take minipci cards ( like inside the back of laptops ). They are useful because they don' t consume much power , you can mount them up near the antenna saving on runs of RF cable/connectors and you can run all sorts of OS's on them

I'll post a bit more if you want later

humaxf1

great bushy...that would be much appreciated

thanks

Peanut

humaxf1 wrote:

cheers peanut

I see you are in celbridge! Do you know of www.alternative-broadband.com ?

I've heard of them, but no idea what they are like. But if you were looking for broadband I would try to get something like BT first (I think you can get them in Celbridge). (edit: but if you are happy with Breeze I would stick with that!)