Wireless Networks to Native Reservations

akb writes: "Interesting article entitled Native Networking Trends: Wireless Broadband Networks describing a project which provided three Indian reservations near San Diego with wireless broadband connectivity. The collaboration between UC San Diego and the Southern California Tribal Chairman Association has attracted additional funding from HP's Digital Village Program doubling the original NSF allocation, which will allow the network to expand to connect 18 reservations to the Internet and educational facilities. The network sports a 45mbps wireless backbone with 802.11b uplinks." The HPWREN pages have a lot of interesting information, including specifications for their 45 megabit solar-powered relays.

Comments

Wireless and 3G

[MosesJones]

These sorts of projects are a kick in the teeth to the wireless companies who will soon be trying to sell 3G tech. Or is it that these will become redundant with the advent of 3G.

Personally I can't wait till the day when my laptop has a wireless 3G card that can connect at high speed whenever and where ever I want.

Re:Wireless and 3G

[kilgore_47]

Personally I can't wait till the day when my laptop has a wireless 3G card that can connect at high speed whenever and where ever I want.

I think you might have to wait, since the military just changed their mind about opening a large part of the spectrum.

Re:Wireless and 3G

[Cato]

This particular project has got little to do with 3G, because it is not mainly about mobility - the project used point-to-point fixed wireless (45 Mbps) for backbone links, and long-distance 802.11b (and plain 802.11b) for access links. The idea is to link schools and research centres to the Internet, rather than support mobile users.

There is a threat to 3G from wireless LANs, but that's from operators like MobileStar, who are setting up access points in 4,000 Starbucks locations across the US (and similar operators in Europe, some with 3G licenses). If 802.11b can get its power requirements down, and if coverage improves, it could prove to be a real competitor to 3G, particularly because its hardware and spectrum costs are already very low compared to 3G.

Re:Wireless and 3G

[Cato]

XP doesn't have support for Bluetooth (raised a bit of press when MS supported 802.11b instead), allegedly due to Bluetooth's immaturity.

Cool Stuff

[cryptochrome]

See, now this is cool. Obviously the uses for this developing mode of technology go way beyond the Native American sphere. My favorite thing about it is that it doesn't rely on wires for power OR transmission. A handful of solar-powered relays looks a lot nicer, is a lot cheaper, is much less intrusive, and is much more easily scalable and robust than a bunch of wires strewn everywhere(and thankfully people are finally starting to appreciate that with solar and other distributed power generation).

Security?

[dragons_flight]

If you look at these pages, we are talking about $3000-$5500 worth of relay equipment sitting out in the middle of nowhere. What happens if someone comes along and decide they'd want some of that for themselves?

Of course no one would ever want to steal from the Indians... Oh, wait, nevermind.

Re:Security?

[dhogaza]

Well ... there's already a large number of microwave links, beacons, and other expensive electronic gear scattered around the Mojave, Sonoran and Great Basins deserts, guarded by nothing more than a chain link
fence with razor wire on the top.

I suppose this stuff gets vandalized from time-to-time. A few rounds from a 30-'06 are more likely than theft, though - check out the road signs
next time you visit us out in the InterMountain West.

My point's simple, though - this stuff's no more likely to be ripped off or vandalized than the expensive equipment that already decorates some of
our mountaintops, and you deal with it the same way. Insure and replace as necessary.

Lightning's probably a bigger risk, anyway. Mountains out here get slammed consistently (I assume they're locating the relays on mountains).

Re:Security?

[eric2hill]

My point's simple, though - this stuff's no more likely to be ripped off or vandalized than the expensive equipment that already decorates some of
our mountaintops, and you deal with it the same way. Insure and replace as necessary.

I'm sure insurance companies would charge a premium because of this, and because of the high premiums, corporate backers would have a much higher bottom line cash outflow, and thus would be less likely to invest. Until the technology can come down into the hundreds of dollars range, I don't see this becoming wide spread.

4A 55 53 54 20 4D 59 20 24 30 2E 30 32

Solar is Great!

[wiredog]

Until you get a three day rainstorm. It is getting better, but it's not there yet.

Re:Solar is Great!

[cryptochrome]

Well, with a large enough battery you could buffer against anything... Or an oversized solar array to compensate for less light... or a replaceable backup power source for emergency use (like a zinc-air battery)... or a multipath network to take up the slack if one relay is shut down for some reason (not the case here)... or whatever. Point being, there are simple solutions around this problem. I think it IS here, but we're only now just starting to realize it and shake the technology down into a truly useful and inexpensive form.

Coming Soon!

[JoeShmoe]

Gambling at your favorite online Indian Gaming casino!

Actually, I'm serious...here in California tribes have already gotten permission to run casinos on their land (although I believe the matter is still going through the courts) so then could the same tribes run their own online gaming?

Do Indian tribes have to abide by the Hague Convention or the Berne treaty or whatever that copyright protection treaty is?

Think about it...Indians are desperately seeking self-reliance, which is pretty much impossible given the crappy ass desert land they were given. So what if they built a few wind turbines and ran a data haven? Do you think Disney et. al. could really bully them?

I would be really intersted in finding out about this. We have been looking for safe havens and if we put Indian reservations on the Internet that sounds like it might fit the bill?

- JoeShmoe

Re:Coming Soon!

[Syberghost]

Do Indian tribes have to abide by the Hague Convention or the Berne treaty or whatever that copyright protection treaty is?


Depends on the tribe. Each tribe has a treaty with the US, defining (among other things) how US law affects them.

Some have stupid treaties, and are essentially US territories with little autonomy.

Others, like the Chickasaws for instance, have treaties that fully preserve their sovereignity, and are essentially another country inside the US, subject to US law only if their tribal legislature votes to be subject to it.

We have been looking for safe havens and if we put Indian reservations on the Internet that sounds like it might fit the bill?

Some tribes have thought about this. And some already have ISPs.

The Chickasaws had one (I know, I built it), but they sold it. However, to the best of my knowledge it still exists on tribal land, and is owned by a Chickasaw, so it is probably still not subject to US law.

Wow!

[Schaffner]

Now you won't need to wire a head for a reservation!

(Sorry, it's a reference to a very bad old joke. I just couldn't resist the opportunity.)

Wampum?

[pschmied]

From one journalist to another, this is probably not a good term to use the way you did.

I'm not wanting to be a PC thug, but here's the entry in the AP Style Book:

Indians American Indian is the preferred term for those in the United States. Where possible, be precise and use the name of the tribe: He is a Navajo commissioner. Native American is acceptable in quotations and names of organizations.

In news stories about American Indians, such words as wampum, warpath, powwow, tepee, brave, squaw, etc., can be disparaging and offensive. Be careful and certain of their usage.

-Peter

Re:Wampum?

[cryptochrome]

Well, if we really wanted to be accurate and straightforward (i.e. not having to ask whether someone is an American Indian or an East Indian when somebody says "Indian"), "American Aboriginals" or some short variation on that (amerabs?) would make the most sense. But I doubt that would ever catch on, since "Indian" is so firmly entrenched in our vocabulary. We'd sooner stop calling East Indians "Indians" than that.

Piss on all political correctness!

[Robber Baron]

In Canada they use the insipid term "first nations" when describing indians. First what...? Bullshit! Prove to me that they were on this planet before anyone else! Besides, I was born in North America. By definition, that makes me a native.

Re:Safe Havens

[JoeShmoe]

They are a sympathic cause. Why do you think they have gambling? Because it was called the "Vegas Casinos Make Billions, Why Can't We" Act? No, it was "Indian Self-Reliance". All of the major casino groups lobbied like mad to try to get people to vote against it, but it was tough to make it look like they were victims. The Indian leaders talked about all the jobs, schools, medicine and food it would bring them. Casinos had to try to sidetrack the issue and dwell on the fact that Indians didn't have to pay taxes on their income, wah wah.

So, if the Indian nations want to try to get self-reliance by forming an electronic economy, lawmakers are going to have a tough time siding with their traditional lobbyists. Who wants to appear to be trouncing on the already impoverished Indian nations to line the pockets of a few select media corporations? I think it would be an interesting way to test the laws, and that's why I would encourage people to investigate this.

- JoeShmoe

Re: Selling New York

[Robber Baron]

the embarresment of selling new york state for 3 trinkets and small pox blanket.

It was goods worth about $20, and had they been able to invest it in some sort of compound interest generating fund at the time, today they'd be able to buy all of Manhattan, including the buildings. A fair trade, I'd say. Besides, if they'd turned Manhattan into a maximum security prison in 1997 like they were supposed to, it wouldn't be worth very much,would it?

Re:Online casinos

[HerrNewton]

They're not faltering in that they are fufilling their intended goal: to make as many jobs as possible without running too deeply in the red.

AP Style Book??

[alienmole]

I'm not sure if you've noticed, but /. doesn't often adhere to the AP Style Book!!

Here are a couple of sample sentences from today's front page:

"Having had to play through some real stinkers of games before, I applaud Maxis decision to kill the product, rather then try to release it on an unsuspecting public CT Cry!"

"The Internet is a peer-to-peer system where one peer can piss in the public pool. These ISPs are doing a good thing by keeping this crap off the net."

I look forward to your AP Style Book critique of the above!

Rural networking

[Animats]

The great thing about rural networking is that RF spectrum is easily available. You can run megabits for miles without much interference. It definitely beats putting up hundreds of telephone poles per subscriber, which you see in some rural areas.