Free Neighbourhood WiFi at Queen and Parliament
Inspired by Peter Rukavina’s experiments with mesh networking, I ordered three Meraki Minis this week, and installed two of them this morning. One sits on a bookshelf in our living room, and the other points north out our back window.
You can see the status of the network, named Corktown, right here online. And if you’re in the neighbourhood, you’re welcome to use the connection.
I’d love to try and convince other residents and businesses to jump on the mesh networking bandwagon, but I don’t really know how to explain the benefits to them. I’m thinking of a flyer, posted to lamposts at the intersection of Queen and Parliament:
Dear [List of neighbourhood SSIDs here],
You probably pay a lot for high-speed internet. I know I do.
Want to share? Make things cheaper, faster, and better for everyone?
Let’s start a wireless mesh network.
Would you bite? I would, but I’m a geek like that.
I think that with a standard Meraki network you can’t customize the start page, not sure. If that is the case, maybe you should rename your network from Corktown to Danmisenerdotcom so people can contact you.
Karen Newton
13 Dec 07 at 9:31 pm
Maybe you should start here: by explaining what it is, on this site. I read this post and I think, “ok, you wanna share a connection? That sounds cheaper alright (how does the bill work?), but won’t the cheap bastard thief downloading movies next door slow down my connection?”
I’m sure there’s tons of folks out there who don’t know what you’re talking about.
The Thrill
19 Dec 07 at 10:25 am
The technical part of Meraki is easy. Dealing with people has been a nightmare for me from when my network was just a vague concept. Here’s an letter I received today. I have two Meraki’s in electrical rooms, one in a hallway. Apparently it is too much for the building’s control freaks. They had written me a letter with a lot of questions, seemingly trying to find a way to get rid of my network, when they didn’t find one they decided to get rid of me “just because”.
Thank you very much for your recent communications to the Board
regarding your Wifi network. We appreciate your responses. The Board is
also sympathetic to your desire to provide a service to the Co-op’s
membership. However, as you yourself point out in your letter of
November 20, 2007, your Wifi system is your personal initiative provided
on a cost-recovery basis using your own equipment. Under these
circumstances, the Board cannot authorize the use of common Co-op
property to provide the service, including the positioning of
transmitters in common areas and maintenance areas such as electrical
rooms. We must, therefore, ask that you remove such equipment by January
14, 2008. Any equipment remaining after that date will be removed by
maintenance staff and kept in the office for you to pick up. The Board
remains open to a proposal for the creation of a Wifi network for the
use of the membership. However, the establishment of such a network can
only be authorized after an agreement has been reached between yourself
and the Board of Directors.
Karen Newton
7 Jan 08 at 9:03 pm
I see your network is expanding. It looks like you have 6 nodes now, one at Marty Millionaire. How did you get them on board? Do you still just have one gateway?
Karen Newton
17 Mar 08 at 3:25 pm