Can't get always on internet access? Want to try broadband technology?
Get involved with Manchester Wireless and help build a broadband network in your own community.
Manchester Wireless are dedicated to setting up a free, public wireless network in Manchester.
We believe that the data networks of the future will be as
important infrastructure as roads and railways, and it is vital that these networks
are not monopolised by a small few, but are run in the interests of the local community.
Manchester Wireless aim to create a city-wide wireless network using freely available off-the-shelf
hardware, and free, open-source software.
Sunday 27th April 2003
March Meeting minutes
The first half of the meeting was taken up with general discussion,
and eventually moved on to demoing and detecting wireless networks.
Towards the end of the meeting we discussed;
- The website, who should host it, and what improvements can be made
- Organisational status of the group
- IP addressing schemes
- Mapping the network
You can find more detailed minutes
here.
Thursday 20th March 2003
There's been a lot of interest in the next meeting, and it's just now been arranged.
The meeting will be the 29th of March 2:00-4:30pm at Bridge-5-mill, the home of MERCi.
It's situated here,
just off Great Ancoats St.
There will be some talks on what we're up to, and how we're doing it.
Anybody who'd like to volunteer to do an informal talk for the meeting, please get in touch
Everyone is welcome, bring along all your wireless wares - you should be able to connect to the access point we are going to setup for the meeting.
You can find more information about what's going on here. If there is anything you would like to talk about at the meeting,
then please add it to the agenda. The document is editable by clicking the 'edit' link at the bottom of the page
Wednesday 5th March 2003
Just over a week ago I finally got the chance to venture in to the centre of Manchester and try to gauge the concentration of WiFi networks in the city centre.
I was expecting to find quite a few, but the results were even more surprising.
Essentially there are wireless networks all over the city, most not using encryption - I didn't dare go any further to see how wide open they really were.
Almost everywhere there are businesses there are already wireless access points broadcasting that business' network into the street.
Unfortunately it's quite hard to tell which networks are open to paying customers, and which are not, there are usually no clues in the ESSID (network name).
I did find a few as I cycled past coffee houses, and there was a network at Urbis (netario claim to be operating a hot-spot here).
A rough route that I followed;
- Bridgewater Hall -> Deansgate
- Deansgate -> Urbis
- Urbis -> Piccadilly Gardens
- Piccadilly Gardens -> Northern Quarter
- Northern Quarter -> Canal St
- Upper Brook St -> Fallowfield
All of this was basically just to prove how widespread WiFi is. At the last meeting I talked with one of the guys from WNAP about the problem of allowing users to know where they can find access.
As I've said before there is no replacement for a decent map of coverage, and the only way you can get this is by real world testing of the range of these networks.
The software I used to find the networks can also be used to generate maps like this one.
I think one of these for Manchester would be much more helpful than the node database maps we are currently using.
Only problem is that to generate these needs a bit of effort, and a GPS. I'll supply the effort, but if anyone has a GPS, and is interested in helping out, then get in touch.
Otherwise I won't be able to produce any of these maps until I can scrape together the cash for a GPS.
Tuesday 11th February 2003
Community Wireless networks have been getting quite a lot of media attention recently.
This morning Radio 4 ran a slot at 8:30am on the community wireless phenomenon, if you switched
over to Radio 5 live you would have heard some more on the meshAP project and their plans to set
up a wireless mesh. Some kind souls have put them online in MP3 format:
Consume.net's James Stevens on the Today show here
and 5 Live's feature on meshAP (a bit short) here
Monday 6th January 2003
It's a little later than I had planned, but I've written up a report of our December
meeting.
All in all, the meeting was a good first step. There was a good turnout, and a healthy mix
of techies, entrepreneurs, and WiFi virgins.
Most talk involved basic questions of how to get a node set-up, what to buy, and
what kind of range can be expected.
Other discussion focused upon developing a standardised node, so that an 'off-the-shelf'
solution can be offered for manchesterwireless members.
The report can be found
here
Friday 13th December 2002
*** STOP PRESS *** - Manchester Wireless meeting
The first Manchester Wireless meeting has finally got the go ahead, for 7:30pm, Wednesday 18th December, at
The Font Bar, near Oxford Rd Station.
The meeting will include demonstrations of Wireless kit, a general getting to know one another sesh, and chance to
hash out a coherent plan of action.
Proposed topics for Discussion are:
- Who are you?
- How do I join in?
- Wireless equipment? - What, How much?
- Antennas - What, Where, How?
- Network plans
- Software DNS & Routing issues
- Available resources + help
- etc...
All are welcome, feel free to bring along any Wireless kit you've got, any more questions,
email
Thursday 21 November 2002
The Manchester Wireless mailing list is now online!
Signup Here
The aim of the mailing list is to encourage participation in the project, and to provide a forum for discussion
of any issues related to manchester Wireless.
Work is currently underway connecting nodes in the Fallowfield and Withington area. If you're interested in the
project, and want to get connected, get in touch on the
mailing list.
To get a rough idea of where the propective nodes are, take a look at the
node map
Thursday 14 November 2002
Don't let the lack of news updates fool you, work is going on behind the scenes. Currently working on getting a mailing list
setup, so watch this space......
Thursday 3rd October 2002
If you're interested in getting involved in Manchester Wireless, then please email
getinvolved@manchesterwireless.net
and let us know where you're based, and how you would like join in. If you are planning on setting up a
node, then register a speculative node in the consume node database
using your postcode.
We will be setting up a mailing list in the near future and working to connect any nodes in the database
which are within range of each other.
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