Slashdot Mirror
Wireless Wales
phich65 writes "People could soon be sending e-mail from the hillsides, roadsides and rooftops of the south Wales valleys with the expansion of Europe's densest wireless internet network.
See this BBC story for details."
← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)
bitch
Is that why? Is this the start of World Domination, spreading like contagion from Wales to the rest of the world?
Infuriate left and right
At first I thought "Wow, now we'll have a wireless mesh even when we're out to sea?" I thought it crazy, but there's so much crazy stuff on here lately that I figured it must be true! (No I'm not kidding or trolling) Anyway, sounds cool.
They went up a hill, and came down a WiFi tower.
/^[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}$/i
Sounds great, except for the fact that it's in Wales.
If someone died because they were connected and didn't pay attention to their surroundings, would they get a D'Arwain award?
Copyrights, Patents, Trademarks: temporary loans from the Public Domain, not real property ("intellectual" or otherwise)
...the initiative already gives free high-speed internet access to users in a 10sqkm catchment area in the city using five roof-mounted antennae.
Free broadband? Free wireless broadband? This could be put to great use, especially for dense urban areas. Its too bad that so many ISPs in North America are fighting wardriving, whilst overseas it seems to be a non-issue.
Call me back when the US telecom companies manage to expand their cellular/PCS service to my area. Pathetic that we can't even have universal wireless telephone service here while the UK is putting wireless Internet into its own rural areas. I wonder how many years its been since every square inch of Europe got cellular service coverage...
== Paul Rickard, Editor of The Microsoft Boycott Campaign ====
So when can we expect free WiFi to roll out to the cities in the US? They're trying to shut down free access here in the name of security. Terrorists could use this anonymous access to plot nasty things against Americans.
How are they going to handle the sudden influx of users when this opens fully? I'm afraid my command of how wireless operates is a bit shakey.. but isn't a general rule of thumb more users = less available bandwidth/stability?
wowwie .. COWS will MOOOOO in happiness!
Same way they handle more cell phone users. More switches and code multiplication.
I just heard some sad news on talk radio - Horror/Sci Fi writer Stephen King was found dead in his Maine home this morning. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to popular culture. Truly an American icon.
Whenever you spot a Linux user, immediately douse his face with pepper spray -- it will force him to shower!
It still doesn't solve the age-old problem of still needing a throat full of phlegm to pronounce the name of any town/city in Wales.
Personally, I think wireless whales would be more exciting....
...when it comes to anything other than dialup access? Is it strictly a lack of competition or is there more to it? The best broadband I can get at my home is spotty cable access for $55.00 a month, so I'm almost to the point of looking at Sat. service for my internet access..it's either that or moving, and hate U-Haul.
subject says it all - imagine - wirless usenet flaming whilst sharing a pair of whellington boots with a furry loved one. this scares me
Rhyddha broadband? Rhyddha wireless broadband? Hon could bod ddod at 'n fawr arfer , 'n arbennig achos 'n bendew 'n drefol gwynebau. 'i hefyd 'n ddrwg a 'n gynifer ISPs i mewn Gogledd Amerig, Yr ydy yn cwffio wardriving whilst overseas hymddangosa at bod a non - ddeillia.
:)
If anyone wants to assist in pronouncing that other than "it sounds like you're trying to talk after stuffing an entire jelly donut into your mouth," be my guest.
I can't even get DSL out here in the boonies but the Orcas are all runnin 802.11 on the World Whale Web.
The story of fat chicks in spandex and their cell phones.
Wales will be the proud location of the first portable web-server on a sheep. You could even design a sheep cam and check were your flock is heading or which bastard is shagging your herd!
cool!
You see this is why people think Americans are insular and ignorant. Maybe we should limit news to things that effect you personally - then you wouldn't have to read all this unnecessary rubbish.
I didn't know much about UK before today. Looks like United Kingdom is the name of the country, their largest island is called "Great Britain", in turn Great Britain comprises the realms of England and Scotland, and the principality of Wales. So Wales is a chunk of land roughly 100 miles x 60 miles with people and stuff.
cheap map and more info here
They really are doomed with a capital 3.
BTW, if you work for a 3G venture, i'll go with the first network that gives me an IP address. I'll roll my own content, thanks.
Some info: Wales is 8000 square miles, 160 miles long by 60 miles wide. If you want any more info go to: Wales Statistics
The problem they have in Wales (and indeed, most of the UK outside the 'big' cities) is that the major Telecoms provider, British Telecom, who basically own all the local telephone exchanges, will not upgrade them for broadband until there is a certain "target level of demand" (i.e. until it will pay them hansomely to do so).
Of course, the rub is, for rural exchanges (like where *I* live) they won't tell you what the target is.....
Therefore, they can alter the 'majic' target at will, so that rural communities will almost certainly never get wired-broadband, hence the move to wireless networks - not only in Wales, but elsewhere in the UK, as it is seen as the only economic way to get better than a POTS dial-up (and don't even ask me about Satellite access in rural UK - uk£1,200 setup and uk£99/month? No thanks!!!)
-- Seamus
.....you know, the only way you can have a url in your message/sig and have it not show the trailing is if you are a moderator. (update...now the sig is missing?...hmmmmm)
Mr. Ricard (user #16563) is actually one of the locals....and that mail is clearly a flame/troll...anti-ms at it's best, I'd say, since the sig below is the message and the message above is superfluous.
Then you add in Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and all the Channel Islands, and you've got the United Kingdom.
Please don't mention Sealand or Rockall, they're just a pain in the arse.
Close... Actually, England and Scotland are seperate countries.
Odd...Neither the CIA Country Factbook nor the UN Stat. Division lists Scotland as a country.
People could soon be sending e-mail from the hillsides, roadsides and rooftops of the south Wales valleys
People in Europe can send e-mail ( and even receive, yeah! ) from any hillside, roadside or rooftop they want using the GSM/GPRS network, there must be something more interesting that you can do what public Wi-Fi networks?
No they're not separate countries (much though the scottish would like it to be so) they're separate provinces. Scotland has its own parliament, but shares many of the laws with the rest of the island (basically they get UK law until they decide to override it, although they have no power to override certain laws such as military stuff).
Wales is completely dependent on the mainland. Its 'Assembly' is just a talking shop with no real power.
The separate provinces make up the single country of the UK, or 'Britain'.
Well what do you expect? The CIA couldn't find their own arses with a labelled diagram. Stupid Americans.
Nope, sorry. The legal system is completely seperate. It just happens that many laws are parallel to English law, and the UK parliament has a certain amount of say in Scottish law.
Odd...Neither the CIA Country Factbook [cia.gov] nor the UN Stat. Division [un.org] lists Scotland as a country.
Well Scotland does have the right to leave the UK - England doesn't as it was the scots who formed it. Surely that makes it pretty close to a country? Wales doesn't have this option as we were invaded by the English and treated as 2nd class citizens, punished for using our language, and generally made to feel inferior until very recently. I for one reckon we should cut off the water supply (from Wales) to the English midlands.
Exactly, and even if they did have the same legal system, would that make them any less different countries? England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are part of the UK, but definitely separate countries.
Actually, as the full title is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands are part of Great Britain, not just the UK. You're also missing a few, such as Gibraltar and Bermuda.
</pedandry>
This might make things tricky. As they say in Wales, "If you can't see the hills, it's raining. And if you can see the hills...it's about to rain."
"Well, put a stake in my heart and drag me into sunlight."
Yawn. You can't really think anyone is interested in the actual statistics about Wales when the made up ones are funny can you?
If they proceed Caerphilly they could lead the world, unless someone Welshes on the deal. Can you install a new Cardiff your PC doesn't have the Newport you need for the service? When you speak Welsh over VOIP is it clear, or just Mumbles?
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
Errr nothing, never mind, just carry on, nothing to see here :-)
To the other poster who said they were separate provinces but the same country, I have no idea which is more correct - I don't know if there's a legal or official definition of a country but I imagine it's more a historical thing.
In Scotland (where I am from) we have our own monarchy (which sort of bit the dust), our own parliament (a horrible, puppet organisation of scrounging bastards who use therir position to get perks and free lunches but have little real power), a border (as far as I'm concerned the most important thing to define a country!), and although we have similar money, it's not exactly the same. Pound notes are still legal tender here although they have long since stopped being used in England.
I think to be honest the individual provinces' definitions are a metter of opinion, unless someone knows better...
I wouldn't think the CIA or the UN stat division would bother separating them for their purposes anyway, so I don't think that helps.
We do have our own football team though. They are the worst in the world.
This idea was invented by Shampoo.
Some people even say that he is the Princess of Wales (usual case of double life) and all this stuff with the tunnel in Paris was just because he wanted to have more time for incorperating kernel patches. Wasn't this "accident" even around time Alan Cox wanted to take over kernel maintaining from Linus ? And that's also the reason why this tunnel-picture which surfaced on the web won't be printed in any newspaper. It's said that he had forgotten this time to take his fake beard off.
Owner of a Mensa membership card.
You are not the real Buttfucker2000.
Cutting off the water supply to the Midlands would have one effect. Even more unemployment in Wales.
This is what is on a British person's passport whether they are born in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales, and this is what defines a country for all legal purposes.
It's all well and good about south wales, but what about the north? Have people completely forgotten about us, or sommat?
Why is it that so many ignorant fools, seem to preach without learning? Admittedly the welsh assembly is nothing more than prattling politicians, and what they discuss there gets carried to london, they ARE actual countries. The Act of Union (1536), made Wales part of the early UK, but it retained it's own country identity.
When I first read the title I thought it said Wireless Whales. I thought all whales were wireless. I've never seen one swimming around the ocean while tethered to the nearest continent with fiber optic cable...
Tired of FB/Google censorship? Visit UNCENSORED!
Actually, England and Scotland are seperate countries. [...] Then you add in Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and all the Channel Islands, and you've got the United Kingdom.
Idiot. It cannot be called United Kingdom if England and Scotland are separate countries.
Couldn't resist. (Although cwms, IIRC, aren't exactly nice to radio.)
pray tell, who the hell got wi-fi out there?
i expect burnings of wireless transitters as english cultural intrusion by welsh nationalists.
it'll be like burning man crossed with the wicker man
This is what the eurotrash commies get for their socialist policies!
See thats why I also included the UN, becuase I knew some Euro would say something along these lines (ie, "stupid americans") ... what about your beloved infallible UN? The UN lists other areas such as American Samoa, Macao, and the Gaza strip. Why no Scotland?
The UN lists other areas such as American Samoa, Macao, and the Gaza strip. Why no Scotland? I really am curious what the difference is?
That's not really true. A province is just an administrative demarkation, for purposes of delegating the buerocracy. A country is a sovereign, or semi-sovereign state. If Scotland and Wales have sovereign rights (i.e. they have rights which Parliament in London can't override), then they are for all intents and purposes countries, albeit countries which have banded together to form a greater whole (which is also a country) for their own common good. I don't personally know the details of the UK's situation, though, so I may be wrong. I can guarantee, though, that our states aren't provinces, and it sounds like the UK's are pretty similar.
"If English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for everyone else."
That's not correct. The full title is "The United Kingdom of Great Britain, Northern Ireland and Dependent Territories". The Isle of Wight, the Scilly Isles, Anglesey, the Hebrides, the Orkney Isles, and the Shetland Islands are part of the British Isles, and also part of Great Britain, and therefore part of the United Kingdom.
The Isle of Man is part of the British Isles, but not part of the UK, it is a "Dependency of the Crown".
The Channel Islands are not technically part of the archipelago that forms the British Isles, they are closer to France than they are to England, but they are also dependencies.
The other dependencies (which are not part of the British Isles) are:
Anguilla, Bermuda, British Antarctic Territory, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands, St Helena and Dependencies (Ascension, Tristan da Cunha), South Georgia, South Sandwich Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands.
^^^ I nicked that lot from a web site because I couldn't remember all of them, OK?
Finnally! Now all those poor fishes without internet acess will have somthing to do!
Bearcat....grr!!!
Hello,
A couple of months ago I was visiting a client in Old Colorado City (a suburb of Colorado Springs) and he mentioned his next-door neighbor, a wireless ISP named Old Colorado City Communications ISP, was providing technical assistance in this project. Old Colorado City Communications is owned by Dave Hughes, who was a columnist for BoardWatch magazine back in the early 90's.
Dave gave my client a nice color brochure talking about the wireless initiative, printed in both English and Welsh.
Regards,
Aryeh Goretsky
Dexter is a good dog.
...sounds like Klingon.
Need Mercedes parts ?
And which website was that from, then? Try something like the United Nations, or the CIA World factbook.. The name comes from the Act Of Union in 1801, when it was titled the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland". After partition, the name was changed to reflect the change to "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".
Being part of the British Isles is irrelevant, as Eire is also part of the British Isles and no longer forms any part of Great Britain or the UK. The other dependancies that you mention are part of Great Britain (the names - British Indian Ocean Territory, etc) often give a suble clue to this. You seem to be mixing geographical (British Isles) with political (Great Britain). The latter includes all of the dependent territories that you mentioned.
For instance Bermuda.
"Bermuda is one of the fourteen (14) Overseas Territories of Britain." It's part of Britain, not just the UK.
I know being part of the British Isles is not the same as being part of the UK(...), that's why I wrote what I did.
The other dependencies are NOT part of Great Britain or Northern Ireland, they are dependent territories. Look it up. The word "of" in the sentence you quoted means "which are associated with", not "which are part of".