Slashdot Mirror
802.11b Urban Network - 3 sq km!
wireless junkie writes "NZ Herald has an article
about a 3 sq km wireless network. Roaming, seamless handoff, VoIP, and its only the demonstration network. 100 sq/km coming soon (according to the RoamAD site) MiniStumbler on an iPaq shows a whole heap of signal on and near downtown Queen Street. All I want for Christmas..."
All I want for Christmas...
... is a wireless network with absolutely no security so people can walk within a 3km diameter space and just hack in on a whim?
I wish you programming fucknuts figure out how to use units... we've lost a lot of expensive space equipment because dumb software engineers.
km^2 (square kilometers) != sq/km (square/kilometer)
And if only the slashdot editors would... shit, i'm preaching to the choir, aren't I.
what kind of unit is a sq/km?
seriously now...this sounds kind of neat. cellular WiFi in a sense.
i wonder what kind of interference it would cause to other devices on the same frequency (other WiFI devices not associated with their network, cordless phones, etc).
and wouldn't this make drive by hacking easier? heck, you don't even need to drive by.
I wonder how bandwidth changes with distance from the transmitters.
"For I am a Bear of Very Little Brain, and Long Words Bother Me"
sq/km is a metric measure of old-fashioned adults per unit of area.
--TheOrangeSquid Is it any wonder things seem so awry? We swim in a sea of confusion and don't have to think to survive
I'm wondering if a public networking system is really worth the risk. By offering a public service, you simple open so many problems caused by unadept users, malicous users, and abuse. Broadband is an excellent tool to be used, however the nightmare of getting everyone hooked up correctly, not to mention managing to keep those users connected must be a nightmare.
By offering it as a wide user base, it allows a malicous user to have a network of people to choose from. Due to the general publics disregard of security, updates and firewalls, this make them sitting ducks to becoming pawns for a Denial of service attack. How long would it be before hackers have a huge network of computers to do their bidding, by simply making a few stokes of the pen on his PDA?
My ignorance is a perfect shield against your logic.
..he just LOVES shared medium.
1)Today, Wifi Zealot wants to test his new ultra wide wifi 2
2)Wifi Zealot heads for his local $tarbuck$
3)Unfortunately, the connection has to be shared with 120 Mac Biggots, 120 Linux Zealots and 200 fat MSCE neighbours
4)Linux Zealot explains WiFi Zealot that after all 75bPs is pretty 7331 and just enough for surfing gopher.
--
moderators : Linux Zealot is a linux zealot who appears frequently on adequacy
Recently I investigated GPRS availability where I live.
I can switch to a GSM network (Rogers/AT&T is rolling out GSM as we speak) and get 53kbps of always-on internet. Not fantastic, but not bad.
Unfortunatly they charge per Kilobyte. Yes. You heard me, Per Kilobyte. Even a few cents per K it adds up quick and becomes pointless.
Ok, so check out another provider. Ok, GSM/GPRS service as well. Always on, blah blah, $50/month unlimited. Ok, good deal. fine print: for 12 months. After that, who knows? They revert to their regular rates(?), which aren't any better than Roger/AT&T.
Ok, so how about CDCP? Hmm, about $50/month but it's 19200 Maximum. They add compression, but that won't solve the whole speed issue. And of course, only works with appriopriate modem, dead end technology, etc.
No wonder these companies can't recover costs... nobody will pay the rates they want.
Nope---old fashioned adults per unit of length.
km is not area; it is length.
km^2 is area.
If you are going to mock a typo, at least get it right.
http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migration/index.htm l
Score your chance to migrate to New Zealand. If you have IT experience and a degree, you're pretty much in.
the major advances in civilization are processes which all but wreck the societies in which they occur - A.N. White
Pretty soon people will be able to set up a CityNet: imagine everybody gathering together on a common IP subnet just like your home LAN except that it's multiple people who show up anonymously by simply setting their IP to within a particular submask.
This has got to be the RIAA absolute worst nightmare. With the Internet if you set up a service that an anonymous person can find and download files from, then so can they and they send you a C&D letter. With multi-user anonymous LANs, not only would they have to have a presense in each city, but even if they do, once they know that IP 198.168.31.331 is trading the whole Metallica collection, they have no way to track you down.
Medium range wireless offers an opportunity to remove, at least locally, the last barrier to a truly free internet : corporate/government regulation of the backbone.
We have running water too.
Dave
I write a blog now, you should be afraid.