Universal Wireless
The community wireless networking bug isn't
constrained to the U.S. Networking projects in dozens of countries
are now online, with more joining in every day. Here are just a few
of the international efforts underway:
8.2.1 BC Wireless
- Founder: Matthew Asham
- Location: British Columbia, Canada
- Project started: December 2000
- URL: http://bcwireless.net/
BC Wireless
focuses on showing consumers how to use
license-exempt technology to connect themselves with other people.
This ranges from answering simple questions about 802.11b to talking
about wide-scale infrastructural networking. Much like BAWUG, the BC
Wireless project itself isn't really a networking
project. BC Wireless is more of a resource used by its members as a
reference tool. Many members of BC Wireless work on projects
independently of each other.
BC Wireless's particular focus is to bridge the
digital divide that separates network hackers from the average
person. They want to help people learn to effectively use technology
for themselves and to embrace it, rather than to be afraid of it.
They are working with the local public school system to help children
learn networking skills, particularly in impoverished communities
where money and education are scarce.
They are also actively working on documentation and software for
average users, to help assist people in setting up their own web
sites and home networks.
8.2.2 Consume
- Founders: Simon Anderson, Ben Laurie, Adam Laurie, Julian Priest, and James Stevens
- Location: London, England
- Project started: August 2000
- URL: http://www.consume.net/
Consume the Net! Consume
is
"a collaborative strategy for the self provision of
a broadband telecommunications infrastructure." They
are building a free network in England, and to that end they host
extensive FAQs, provide mailing lists, and even have their own online
node database. Much like the SeattleWireless effort, Consume is
building a wireless infrastructure independent of the local
monopoly-held wired network.
8.2.3 Melbourne Wireless
- Founders: Steven Haigh, Glen Brunning, and Drew Ulricksen
- Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Project started: June 2000
- URL: http://melbourne.wireless.org.au
Melbourne Wireless, Inc. is a
not-for-profit group aiming to establish a fast, free, metropolitan
area wireless network based on existing off-the-shelf 802.11-based
equipment.
Melbourne Wireless lists over 1,200 nodes under way in their
LocFinder database, of which 225 are active as of this writing. They
hold regular monthly meetings and host the usual assortment of online
resources (including FAQs, news, and mailing lists).
8.2.4 RedLibre
- Founder: Jaime Robles
- Location: Madrid, Spain
- Project started: September 2001
- URL: http://www.redlibre.net/
RedLibre
was the first wireless group in Spain. They are an organizational group
that helps coordinate people and resources with various local
community wireless groups throughout Spain. RedLibre had a national
meeting in December, 2002 and met with representatives from 15 local
wireless groups. Through their coordination, Spain has an
exceptionally well-developed wireless community presence.
The RedLibre network has active free wireless nodes in five cities
throughout Spain. They have over 1,100 registered users and more than
500 people subscribe to their mailing lists.
8.2.5 Wireless Leiden
- Founders: Jasper Koolhaas, Marten Vijn, Evert Verduin, Johan de Stigter, and Rudi van Drunen
- Location: Leiden, Netherlands
- Project started: September 2001
- URL: http://www.wirelessleiden.nl/
The town of Leiden (in the West
Netherlands) has had a particularly
successful community network project, involving local government,
businesses, and private individuals. From their web site:
In this group of enthusiastic and knowledgeable professional
volunteers who wanted to experiment with wireless connections, the
ambition of developing a non-commercial, fast and open (for everyone,
also commercial enterprises) network has emerged. Anyone cooperating
with the group will be having access to an extremely fast network,
even capable of sharing high-quality audio, video or TV images. In
the starting phase the group was working on the technology trying to
answer the question: "can it
be done?" Now the answer is
"Yes," proof-of-concept has
been delivered.
What started as a hobbyist project in September of 2001 has evolved
into a nonprofit foundation with over 300 active users. Wireless
Leiden is a terrific example of how commercial enterprises can
benefit from free networks. Employees frequently use the public
infrastructure to telecommute to work, using encrypted tunnels to
keep their traffic secure. Through cooperation with local schools,
churches, and businesses, Wireless Leiden has built one of the most
advanced free networks on the planet.
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