[afnog] Wi-fi product

[Brian Candler]

On Fri, Aug 04, 2006 at 08:39:05AM +0200, Kondwani Masiye wrote:
> Proxim has a wi-fi product called Orinocco but I am not sure 
> how good it is.

The Orinoco is your bog-standard 802.11 access point (formerly Lucent,
formerly WaveLan?)

It sounds to me like you want to install a bunch of normal 802.11 access
points (so that clients can connect with a normal wifi card), and then have
some sort of backbone linking them together. If you can run a DSL line into
each access point, that would be the most reliable approach. Otherwise,
you'll need some sort of wireless backbone to link them - perhaps you can
hook onto your existing Canopy network, which you say is reliable. If it
doesn't use 802.11 frequencies, so much the better, as that means you are
less liable to receive interference from other users on that band.

This sort of metropolitan area networking has been done before, but you may
find you need rather a lot of access points to give reasonable coverage. It
won't penetrate into buildings well, so you are likely to have to install
extra hotspots inside buildings where you are keen for good coverage
(perhaps railway stations, hotels etc). Then you may have to run a DSL line
into those buildings, or a cable up to the top of the building for an
antenna for your wireless backhaul. It could turn into a big and expensive
project :-(

Another approach is to go the mobile phone route, and install a 3G wireless
network. That will be *really* expensive, and requires the user to have a 3G
data card, but getting citywide coverage may be achievable with a much
smaller number of base stations. Another is Wi-Max, when that ever gets off
the ground, which will also require a customer side device. It depends how
important it is to you that people can use their laptops with built-in
802.11 wireless networking.

HTH,

Brian.