<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="CONTENT-TYPE" CONTENT="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<TITLE></TITLE>
<META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="OpenOffice.org 3.1 (Unix)">
<META NAME="AUTHOR" CONTENT="harlequin">
<META NAME="CREATED" CONTENT="20091126;12293500">
<META NAME="CHANGEDBY" CONTENT="h4rlequin ">
<META NAME="CHANGED" CONTENT="20100325;12370400">
<META NAME="Información 1" CONTENT="">
<META NAME="Información 2" CONTENT="">
<META NAME="Información 3" CONTENT="">
<META NAME="Información 4" CONTENT="">
<STYLE TYPE="text/css">
<!--
@page { size: 80.7cm 70cm }
-->
</STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY LANG="es-ES" DIR="LTR">
<P><FONT FACE="Courier 10 Pitch"><FONT SIZE=3><B>.:[Issues at play in
Free Wireless Networks]:.</B></FONT></FONT></P>
<TABLE WIDTH=2000 BORDER=1 CELLPADDING=5 CELLSPACING=3>
<COL WIDTH=255>
<COL WIDTH=276>
<COL WIDTH=276>
<COL WIDTH=276>
<COL WIDTH=276>
<COL WIDTH=276>
<COL WIDTH=272>
<TR VALIGN=TOP>
<TD WIDTH=255>
<P LANG="en-US"><U><B>Question:</B></U></P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>FunFeuer Graz: Alexander</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>FreiFunk: Elektra</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>AWMN: Socrates</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Ninux: Saverio</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>wlan-ljubljana: Mitar</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=272>
<P>guifi.net</P>
</TD>
</TR>
<TR VALIGN=TOP>
<TD WIDTH=255>
<P LANG="en-US"><B>Foundational year:</B></P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>FunkFeuer Graz. 1998. Started as a project. Interested telecom
people interested. No wifi to the SE of city (Graz) 2005.
</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>BerLon meeting (2002) + antenna workshop</P>
<P>FreiFunk (before; Berlin Backbone)</P>
<P>Posted Mesh Networking in FF wiki: 2003</P>
<P>friedeshain</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>2002. 7 years...non for profit association.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Ninux 2002. Ninux stands for;</P>
<P>No Internet, Network Under eXperiment.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>2006 HAIP festival. There was a festival where they met people
from funkfeuer.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=272>
<P>2004 first node in Osona, countryside of Catalonia, Spain.</P>
<P>2008 guifi.net foundation</P>
</TD>
</TR>
<TR VALIGN=TOP>
<TD WIDTH=255>
<P LANG="en-US"><B>Membership</B></P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>You have to set your own node (otherwise you do not get
connection)</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>No formal organisation. FreiFunk is 50% a berlin label + logo.
To become a member you buy and connect.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Some technical knowledge needed. Not users but creators. If not
monitoring their node, they can be excluded from the net.
Different levels of membership.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Anyone can become member. Everyone can access and attach a node
to the network (even without being skilled; they recieve and
attend RFI)</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Not an association. Bottom-up driven. Even people<BR>without
technical knowledge because of the simple "plug and mesh"
process of deploying a node.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=272>
<P>No subscription is requiered. It's necessary to register on
guifi.net to have complete access to all information and tools
available.</P>
</TD>
</TR>
<TR VALIGN=TOP>
<TD WIDTH=255>
<P><B>sustanability:</B></P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>7000 Euros x year funding from graz city.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Mesh principle. Consume = add node</P>
<P>software help each other.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P><BR>
</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Not a formal organisation.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Not an association. Bottom-up driven. Donations.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=272>
<P>- Self-produced network, citizens' money, funds of small local
authorities. Donations.</P>
<P>- Guifi.net foundation started with 60,000 €</P>
<P><BR>
</P>
</TD>
</TR>
<TR VALIGN=TOP>
<TD WIDTH=255>
<P><B>Nº Nodes & Users Today:</B></P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>120 nodes in graz.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>550 single cloud. But more cities linked. Half Berlin covered.
3.000 users (devices) peak x day.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Largest network with fixed homebuild points. 16.000 registered
users. 870 backbone nodes (aprox.), 2400 clients (aprox)</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>30 to 35 nodes in Rome. Strong community.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">28 active nodes. 20.000 clients logged on
1</SPAN><SUP><SPAN LANG="en-US">st</SPAN></SUP> <SPAN LANG="en-US">year.
30-40 peek users simultaneously connected per day in Ljubjana.
See; <A HREF="https://nodes.wlan-lj.net/nodes/statistics" TARGET="_blank">https://nodes.wlan-lj.net/nodes/statistics</A></SPAN></P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=272>
<P>8,860 nodes, 3 inhabitants per node = 25,000 users approx.
</P>
</TD>
</TR>
<TR VALIGN=TOP>
<TD WIDTH=255>
<P><B>Composition:</B></P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Geeks + people undestand social principle and willing to give
something to the community.
</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Tech and non-tech guys.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P LANG="en-US">More techie people as they expand their network.
IT students, developers.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>20 to 25 people are software developpers.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>5 people form the hard core and then, you have active
developpers and not-so-active and non-skilled people.
(Nevertheless, they perform well with not so many people on the
hard core)</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=272>
<P>All kind of citizens.</P>
<P>guifi.net Foundation: 5 people board.</P>
<P><BR>
</P>
</TD>
</TR>
<TR VALIGN=TOP>
<TD WIDTH=255>
<P><B>Internet access:</B></P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Cannot guarantee access to Internet. Nevertheless, you could
have 4Mbit from other ISPs for 200$ / year at the time. Now you
have 8 Mbit/s symmetric (pricing unknown).</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Motivation biggest internet. Experimanetal net at the
beginning. Hard to keep experimental when lots of users depen upon
it...</P>
<P>99% is Internet use.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Problems with fast connections. Shared Internet. Do provide
other services (VoIP)</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Shared Internet Conection. Do provide internal services (VoIP –
asterisk, answer machines to mail...)
</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>More valuable to have Internet connectity than priorizing
speed. Plug and Mesh motto (but open and hackable).</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=272>
<P>Shared Internet Connection. Free connections through proxy
servers provided by private individuals, institutions, small
companies, anyone.</P>
</TD>
</TR>
<TR VALIGN=TOP>
<TD WIDTH=255>
<P><B>Free as in...</B></P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Free spech and no charging fees *only equipement / selling
reflash routres *but not making business
</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Free access to Internet, no censorship.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P><BR>
</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Wifi as a social thing...</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P LANG="en-US">Nodes are open to public (welcome screen – but
no login required). Can be used also as an artistic medium. Free
access, knowledge, equipment, appropriating technologies,
non-censorships, but also free as until you do not break other
things...</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=272>
<P>Free access, free speech, free to build open network, free to
know how the network is built, free to add services and content
into the network.</P>
</TD>
</TR>
<TR VALIGN=TOP>
<TD WIDTH=255>
<P><B>Relationship w/Public Adm:..........</B></P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Notified radio policy about own activities. Ok, unproblematic,
even if there might be data retention, it is not implemented. But
as we are non/profit entity, no one can force us to do it.</P>
<P>This is the law in Austria. Even small ISPs and companies
running their own mailservers are exempted from DR.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Several....pirate party...pirate + freifunk</P>
<P>Lawyers.</P>
<P LANG="zxx">Become a relevant actor
</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Invited by NRA to respond to consultations. Law does not permit
Internet Shared Access.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>They (government) do not understand who or what we are + we
have a lack of trust in Italian Institutions. Sharing Internet
connection is not allowed by Italian laws.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P LANG="en-US">Wlan-lj is bottom-up driven without any government
agency involved in it's deployment, but they do agree to
collaborate with organisations and government provided they do so
in the same bottom-up manner.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=272>
<P>In small towns, it is very good, but in cities it is difficult
and sometimes impossible.</P>
</TD>
</TR>
<TR VALIGN=TOP>
<TD WIDTH=255>
<P><B>Content:</B></P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Cooperation with Elevate festival, free radio (Radio Helsinki),
mur.at media art network.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>99.9 % Internet.....</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>File Sharing, Game Servers, VoIP, VPN servers, Weather
Stations, Personal Webpages, Statistics reports...
</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>VoIP, servers...+ Internet.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P LANG="en-US">Not much (early stages) plus, there are practical
reasons (needs) that require our energies.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=272>
<P>Internet, servidores asterix, web, ftp, radiostreaming,
voiceIp, webcams, video juegos, P2p, all posible in networks.</P>
</TD>
</TR>
<TR VALIGN=TOP>
<TD WIDTH=255>
<P><B>Problems:</B></P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>120 nodes ;/ have we saturated the community of geeks?
(2005/2007) Applying for funding without knowing if we will get
it.</P>
<P>Manpower. (time...). Fund raisers...</P>
<P>Topography, mountains...it will be good to benefit from UHF
frequencies there. Attempts on wimax, but still. Try to get
wireless connection to vienna.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>More usere = more hard to develop tech.</P>
<P LANG="en-US">Always running a firewall for the sake of safety.</P>
<P LANG="en-US">People receiving letters; “fishing” IP's.</P>
<P LANG="en-US">Need of a file-sharing filter on the gateway.</P>
<P LANG="en-US">Sociophatic people on the net.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>“Social Issues”: free riders who do not want to work as a
team.</P>
<P>Indifference on the community.</P>
<P>Skills; trained people...</P>
<P LANG="en-US">For tech problems is easier to find solutions.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Bad xDSL service. Bad districution for buying hardware in
Italy. Go tell someone that to become part of the network he/she
must order something through the internet...</P>
<P>Tech problems at the begining (using sveasoft instead of
OpenWRT)</P>
<P>manually administrarting the network...</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Lack of active people with technical knowledge who would help
others setup their nodes. (hw side of the network...)</P>
<P><BR>
</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=272>
<P>Financial support from the institutions, ignorance about open
networks, fear towards network security, individualism, social
selfishness.</P>
<P><BR>
</P>
</TD>
</TR>
<TR VALIGN=TOP>
<TD WIDTH=255>
<P><B>Solutions:</B></P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>5ghz backbone. Select interesting locations. Own Provider for
public IP.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>More users = politicaly wise.</P>
<P>Promote File Sharing to expand network. (Pirate FreiFunk)</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>University teaching courses for Wireless Networks.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Fusolab as a shop. From linksys to Foneras to Ubiquity
nanostations.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P LANG="en-US">Created a custom node watcher program. Need to
design and code programs with other people in mind so it will be
easier to contribute.
</P>
<P LANG="en-US">Reach new people to contribute (solving hw side
assistance for the network)</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=272>
<P>Institutional financing, better communication with inexpert
people, support from local companies.</P>
</TD>
</TR>
<TR VALIGN=TOP>
<TD WIDTH=255>
<P><B>Coordination intra & inter:</B></P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P><BR>
</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>No central administration</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P><BR>
</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P><BR>
</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P><BR>
</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=272>
<P><BR>
</P>
</TD>
</TR>
<TR VALIGN=TOP>
<TD WIDTH=255>
<P><B>Expected growth:</B></P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Geek comunity saturated. Need for more funding to help put
nodes in good locations.
</P>
<P>Difficulties for growing over 250 nodes,,,</P>
<P>Cooperation with TUniversity Graz, locations/internal
connectivity.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Running an open tracker w/ Pirate Bay soft in a mesh (hard to
trace back to you...)</P>
<P>Increase Free network to use freedom...</P>
<P>Have interesting content.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Still exist. Increase quality within Internet connections.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Keep growing and include non-techie people. Involve more
Italian cities.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Hope it will be different because new people will develop
things. (you do not need to be a developper to develop things).
</P>
<P>Expect people would upload / share new content.</P>
<P>Also add more features to nodewatcher such as:</P>
<P>Documentation<BR>Support for more routing protocols<BR>Traffic
flow calculation<BR>Cross-plataform desktop faster application.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=272>
<P>Keep growing.
</P>
<P>Last year, 243 nodes per month <U>and</U><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration: none">
gradually increasing.</SPAN></P>
</TD>
</TR>
<TR VALIGN=TOP>
<TD WIDTH=255>
<P><B>Equipment (hw):</B></P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Linksys, buffalos, foneras *crap/ rf equipement, alixports,
ubiquity extreme range 5
</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>What you can buy.</P>
<P>But also because of the firewall, you only see the devices, but
not who is using the network...</P>
<P>Orinoco to OpenWRT54G(now outdated)...</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Encourage Homemade Equipement (aerials and cables)</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Meraki, Open Mesh, Fonera, Ubiquity, routerboards, microtik,
Alix...</P>
<P>(sometimes they function as a little shop because it is hard to
find retailers or even distributors in Italy)</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Linksys, Fonera.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=272>
<P>Routerboard for supernodes and wrt, nanostations and other low
cost CPEs for clients</P>
</TD>
</TR>
<TR VALIGN=TOP>
<TD WIDTH=255>
<P><B>Software (maintenance):</B></P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>Olsr (roof/balcony), freifunk,some OpenWRT, Debian on Alix
port, home made node db.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>B.A.T.M.A.N, OLSR, Firewall in FreiFunk Firmware (NAT,
Masquerading and Firewalling...), OpenWRT</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>BGP, OLSR, WiND (Wireless Nodes Database)</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>OLSR, OpenWRT</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=276>
<P>OpenWrt, nodewatcher, Django, Trac, OLSR, Linux.</P>
</TD>
<TD WIDTH=272>
<P>Central web site (LAMP) for self-povisioning IPs and
configurations for both supernodes and client. Mainly RuterOS for
supernodes and dd-wrt, openwrt and airOS for clients.</P>
</TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
<P>Interviews carried by: Bona, Y., Foglia, E. and Baig, R. (2009)
@Ninux Day. Rome, IT.</P>
</BODY>
</HTML>