 |
Community Wireless Networks (CWNs) originally were formed by local technology
enthusiasts who wanted to build interlinked computer networks using wireless
technology. Taking advantage of inexpensive wireless devices and free
and open source software, these groups began building clusters of linked
networks in their dormitories, apartments and neighborhoods. These projects
gradually penetrated urban and rural public spaces, where conventional DSL and
broadband services were unavailable or prohibitively expensive.
|
|
|
Graphic Credit: Darrin Drda
|
As wireless devices and software became more advanced and the cost of wireless
continued to drop, many of these local groups began experimenting with wireless
mesh networks. Comprised of decentralized nodes (often merely a laptop or over-the-counter
wireless router), this technology created a cooperative wireless "mesh" that
could inexpensively span entire cities. The key advantage of wireless mesh was
that as more people participated (the more nodes were added) the more area the
network could cover without sacrificing bandwidth. This made mesh networks easily
scalable, relatively inexpensive, and very resilient (the network did not depend
on any single node, in the same way that the Internet does not depend on any
single server). Unlike the wired lines of Telecoms whose market-oriented networks
force them to limit service in order to maintain profits, the mesh architecture
of these community networks allow anyone with a wireless device to access the
network. Groups building these networks soon realized that inexpensive, even
free, universal access was now a possibility.
As the cost of wireless equipment declined and as the Telecoms continued to
fail to meet the demands of so called "impossibly low margin customers," many
more CWNs began to appear. CWNs have become especially popular in the Global
South, not only for their cost-effectiveness, but also because of the possibility
of creating local Intranets with broadband speeds. At first, many CWNs were
highly unstable and only practical for the devoted enthusiast willing to directly
experiment with the technology. However, as CWNs have become more reliable and
accessible, more and more everyday computer and wireless users have come to
depend upon them, so that today they can be found in hundreds of cities throughout
the world.
Most CWNs are now coordinated by citywide user groups after beginning as a
grassroots movement to create free, anonymous Internet access to anyone with
wireless capability. Most are run on a voluntary basis and like other local
groups are discovering that they face many non-technical challenges: social
(e.g., encouraging and sustaining volunteer and community input), economic (e.g.,
ownership, initial investment and continued maintenance), and political (e.g.,
discriminatory government policy).
While CWNs have a wealth of experience and new ideas for meeting the technical
challenges that they face, they understand that they need to do more than prove
their technological feasibility if they are to be widely successful: they also
will need to change the way that people think, use, and talk about wireless
technology.
(page updated 12/27/2007)
| |
