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This sound like what the SeattleWireless network is doing but on a larger scale. http://www.seattlewireless.net/

The whole idea of trusting the wire is a pretty bad one.

http://seattlewireless.net/

SeattleWireless and PersonalTelco are already doing it. Go read. :)

* As far as violating the terms of service, most of the internet connections we are using we are ok, since we are not reselling the service, only sharing it to the our immediate friends and neighbors. Providers may choose to change there terms of services though. We are paying for this service, and choosing to let people use bandwidth we have already bought.

* As far as the network getting used by to many users and becoming useless. Most of the access points have Linux or FreeBSD machines as gateways. If this becomes an issue we will just install traffic shaping software on the gateway. The goal is not to provide you with a superfast connection that will make you give up your home cable modem and DSL line to sit in the park (though that would be nice). The goal is to provide a public free open wireless network for anyone to use. Even if the network gets saturated and we are only providing each person with 10kBytes/sec, that is still double the speed of dialup and adequate for web browsing and email. I watch the bandwidth usage very carefully, and people have been very good about using the free network.

* Wireless is not a replacement for a wired network, and free networks are not a replacement for commercial networks. That being said we are never going to replace commercial wired networks. We can provide an alternative for you to use though.

If your interested in starting a project in your area, do it.

1. Put up a simple web page on geocities or something.

2. Start a mailing list on Yahoo Groups

3. Post links to your website on the Seattle Wireless and Personal Telco web pages. -That is how NYCwireless (originally RooftopsNYC) got started.

-Maybe there is a group in your area, check: Personal Telco Wireless Communties List

If your in New York City, your welcome to use my node at 84th Street and Lexington Ave. Relax at the corner, or have a coffee at the coffee shop.

www.nycwireless.net

* As far as violating the terms of service, most of the internet connections we are using we are ok, since we are not reselling the service, only sharing it to the our immediate friends and neighbors. Providers may choose to change there terms of services though. We are paying for this service, and choosing to let people use bandwidth we have already bought.

* As far as the network getting used by to many users and becoming useless. Most of the access points have Linux or FreeBSD machines as gateways. If this becomes an issue we will just install traffic shaping software on the gateway. The goal is not to provide you with a superfast connection that will make you give up your home cable modem and DSL line to sit in the park (though that would be nice). The goal is to provide a public free open wireless network for anyone to use. Even if the network gets saturated and we are only providing each person with 10kBytes/sec, that is still double the speed of dialup and adequate for web browsing and email. I watch the bandwidth usage very carefully, and people have been very good about using the free network.

* Wireless is not a replacement for a wired network, and free networks are not a replacement for commercial networks. That being said we are never going to replace commercial wired networks. We can provide an alternative for you to use though.

If your interested in starting a project in your area, do it.

1. Put up a simple web page on geocities or something.

2. Start a mailing list on Yahoo Groups

3. Post links to your website on the Seattle Wireless and Personal Telco web pages. -That is how NYCwireless (originally RooftopsNYC) got started.

-Maybe there is a group in your area, check: Personal Telco Wireless Communties List

If your in New York City, your welcome to use my node at 84th Street and Lexington Ave. Relax at the corner, or have a coffee at the coffee shop.

www.nycwireless.net

There are motley crews beaming no-cost broadband in several dozen cities around the world. Unless they've managed to slather the entire Lower East Side with access points and get a fair number of end-user type participants, what the hell is so special about New York's version of this idea?

I'm doing this in Chicago (things are moving slowly). My personal favorites in the community wireless world are Seattle Wireless and Green Bay Professional Packet Radio (GBPPR has some great tech and a very experimental bent, but they won't give you the time of day unless you can convert mw to dBm in your head... fine with me).

The way DSL is going, I can't wait for stuff like this to pick up some momentum.

If you and a few of your local crazy-ass friends got together, you could make your own wireless LAN. Check out what the folks in seattle have done.

You could always set up a Seattle Wireless-type setup by doing an 802.11b point-to-point link from your office building (if you have line of sight) or get a few neighborhood friends to buy some access points & wireless cards, attach dialup modem proxies to the newly-created network, modify some open proxy software to somehow combine the multiple dialup connections into an equivalent of a DSL, OR find a nearby company with a fat pipe and an unsecured network and use a laptop connected to 2 wireless cards to act as a repeater stashed in a nice waterproof box and some directional antennas between you and the fat pipe.
OR, you could just get a cable modem.

Check out http://www.seattlewireless.net. They've been doing a community wireless service for a few years now with great success.

http://www.pdxwireless.org/

http://www.sbay.org/

http://www.sflan.com/

http://www.seattlewireless.net/

Luckily for me ... I live in Seattle, and my Linksys card is on the way.

I hope they find a way to keep it up there. It would be funny if the seattle wireless guys used it as an antenna. Technological advances indeed.

I wonder how many nodes of the type recently described here on /. you could buy for $250,000. Instead of a boat with 20PCs why not run a cheap and dirty 803.11b network and connect these communities permanently?

Any one interested in this technology should check out Seattlewireless.net we are a group building a free wireless network in the seattle area. Along the same lines as consume and other projects, however our mission is not based on internet access, but to create a network unto its own based on 80211b technology. We plan to have internet gateways present on our network, however we would like to see a local/free/public wireless network that had its own web its own irc, quake servers etc... Check it out for more info.

interested?

SeattleWireless

They are using the canberra plans to make helical antennae and set up a city-wide wireless network.

for free

If this is just for your house, go for the airport. It's got plenty of range and it is a _lot_ cheaper.

If you're in Seattle or want a ton of wireless links, check out http://seattlewireless.net/

We're working on a free public wireless network in Seattle.

see http://seattlewireless.net/