[GNUz] The Future of Community Wireless

[Nick Rout]

On Tue, 20 Jun 2006 22:32:37 +1200
Rik Tindall <ask@infohelp.co.nz> wrote:

> Don Gould wrote:
> > 
> > Oh what a jolly joy germ :)
> > 
> > Yes I agree... if the only reason for wifi networks is to get internet 
> > then it's pointless...
> > 
> > Au has a very different bb market to NZ now.  They also have some 
> > annoying laws that make using it for profit much more painful.
> > 
> > Mobile networks are cheaper as well in Au.  Syd has 6 or more mobile 
> > providers with competition everywhere.
> > 
> > There are also two other wireless networks with budget plans.
> > 
> > Building wifi is fun and a fantastic learning exercise.  As kiwi's we 
> > need to do it so we learn and give our selves a technology advantage.
> > 
> > Cheers Don
> 
> A very good answer, drawn from travelled experience. Thanks Don.
> 
> There's also the point of FOSS serving, offering valuable but free 
> content - effectively sharing scarce bandwidth by redistributing 
> downloads. A potential alternative to broadband for the low-waged of the 
> *nix community, at least. Wealthier/M$ users would never see the same 
> value in it tho. Hence real community development - rather than of a 
> market - is central to the project.
> 

The problem is that there is no incentive for it becasue there is no content. The average person says "What do I get for sharing my bandwidth?". The answer is, not a bloody lot. In exchange for being able to get distros X,Y,Z from you I supply distro W to all of you. BUT I am kinda expected to keep my mirror of distro W up to date. No mean feat.

I like the idea, but I really have been struggling to see where the content is.

Interestingly there is a huge percentage of internet traffic attributed to "pirated" content - warez, tv, movies, pr0n etc. Thats what a lot of people are spending their allowances and bandwidth on. If one person in ChCh downloaded Lost/Battelstar Galactica/Desperate Housewives/Dr Who/Windows Vista/Debbie Does Redmond and then shared it via a community network there would be a lot of "real" internet bandwidth saved. But you cannot build a network on illegal content.

What else takes up the world's bandwidth? Spam? Sorry, don't want that! 

Next we ask: what does Citylink in Wellington carry around the city? Peter Jackson movie production files? Yes, its undoubtedly very useful for transprting stuff like that around. But a community wireless network is not going to have that bandwidth or commercial appeal.

As I say I like the idea. Tell me what its for and I'll be happy.

What do people in New York use theirs for?