Hawaii Wi-Fi

wyldchild37 writes "Through all the hype about 802.11b, I haven't seen too many real applications being talked about. Now that's starting to change. Here's a story on a guy who has set up a wireless network covering a good chunk of the Big Island of Hawaii. His network includes base stations wherever he can place them, along with an assortment of amplifiers, antennas, and other gear."

Aloha Net

[spotter]

This is somewhat interesting, as a lot of the research that went into what became ethernet was originally developed at the university of hawaii, as a wireless network, called Aloha http://www.nightflight.com/foldoc-bin/foldoc.cgi?A loha

Bob Metcalf (of xerox parc, later founding 3com) went on and basically took the protocol's and put them on a wire (instead of wireless), and this led to what we know of ethernet today.

what 802.11 adds to ethernet (that aloha didn't have) is the request to send/clear to send protocol which prevents the "hidden sender" problem from appearing. This problem is, wireless cards only have a certian range, card "a" might want to send data to card "b", and card "c" might want to send data to card "b", but "a" and "c" can't see each other, so their can be collisions which they will never know about because they can't see the collision. (unlike in ethernet, or in aloha, where all the hosts are assumed to be able to see each other)

Other rollouts

[CmdrTaco (editor)]

The University of Hawaii is also rolling out its own [hawaii.edu] campus wide 802.11b system.

Looks like the pricing is only going to be 24.95 a month [hi.net] for ISDN speeds up to $99.99 for 1 Mb. Doesn't seem like all that bad a deal.

Re:I would wonder...

[CmdrTaco (editor)]

Mutual authentication, secure key derivation, dynamic WEP keys, Reauthentication policies, and initialization vector changes. These are all implemented by hi.net [hi.net] and no doubt will be used by any other ISP wishing for a reasonable amount of security.

Read about more about them. [cisco.com]

No applications?

[Joe Decker]

Through all the hype about 802.11b, I haven't seen too many real applications being talked about...

I disagree. I believe that being able to answer email during the dead bits of meetings, being able to wander into someones office at work and being able to immediately work with them, being able to telecommute, read my mail or just surf the TV listings from my couch without having to be tied to a cord are all pretty solid applications of the technology.

I'm not the only person who thinks so. A coworker recently ran an 802.11b networking finding program on his laptop on his drive to work, and counted 175 distinct networks, all probably within 100 yards of his car during his commute... There're a lot of 802.11b networks going up.

--Joe

Also on Maui

[Overcoat]

Wiecking's project to bring wireless net to the island Hawaii has gotten a lot of support from the University of Hawaii and the Maui High Performance Computing Center, which is also working to impelment wireless on Maui. The MHPCC has a site here [mhpcc.edu] with some nice info pages [mhpcc.edu], including some helpful coverage maps [mhpcc.edu]. A lot of the areas the MHPCC's project covers are way out in the 'boonies (Honokaa, Kohala), so any geeks who are interested in doing the whole hermit-in-paradise thing might want to take note.

How To Do It Yourself

[hyrdra]

What this guy has accomplished here would really be a no-brainer for most on Slashdot. The only thing I can see stopping one is the financial aspect -- an even that's not high. $1000 will create a 256 user, 5 mile 802.11b omnidirectional network or a 25 mile PtP. Myself and three others are setting up a public network in Athens, Ohio. You would be amazed at how many cities will allow you to co-locate antennas on public service towers and buildings when you bill the service as non-profit and for the community.

Here is a low-down of the basic equipment needed for a high-range, omnidirectional base station:

- 15 dB 80" Omnidirectional Antenna
- 1W AGC Amplifier
- Linksys WAP11 (or your favorite AP here)
- N to N male Connector (amplifier to antenna)
- BNC to N male Connector (AP to amplifier)

All of the above cost under $800, and when situated in an area with good radio horizon, you can expect 11 Mbps for at least a mile, and 2 Mbps up to 10 (in some cases). Please note that it's against FCC regulations to operate a 2.4 GHz link at 1W with a 15 dB antenna. I doubt anything would come of it since it's not a huge increase over the limit in this area of the spectrum, however for the paranoid you should use an automatic gain control amp that adjusts power automatically to keep you legal.

Other than that it just depends on how much money you have to invest in these base stations to provide wireless roaming. What we have found is that two stations located near enough each other that they overlap tends to increase the power somewhat and allow more users on the system.

This is really the future. Once enough cities grow their own public wireless networks and the technology gets up in the 100 Mbps range (802.11a is not applicable as the range is very limited) at the current distance and power, we can say goodbye to the telecommunications giants for most things.

Re:.... and all free!

[Sokie]

26 miles?? This is pretty impressive. Have any ISP's in any city considered doing this as an option of giving broadband internet access?

This one [pocketinet.com] is going about 10 miles as the crow flies, although they are just a local outfit, but you can see from this map [topozone.com] how far they are going with 802.11b equipment, most likely amplified.

Re:Scalability issues

[Anonymous Coward]

Nope, we got lines going to Japan too.

Re:I have a question.

[hyrdra]

The 26 mile quote in the article was probably regarding a directional antenna on a base station. Of course, Hawaii doesn't have the buildings and urban sprawl of most other places in the US (or world for that matter), so it may be resonable to assume an amplified antenna on a high peak or mountain would receive such omnidirectional range. At least I would suspect Hawaii would have better range than in the states where there is a lot more RF in the air.

Or it could just be that the news article had it's wording wrong, and that he's actually operating 26 miles from his T1 land line via an array of 802.11b base stations.

Re:Huh?

[the_greywolf]

beyond that, this month's issue of Wired magazine (in the Infoporn section, of course), proudly displays a map of the continental US showing the locations of major Wi-Fi networks.

unfortunately, it fails to show the WAN that a local ISP just rolled out. last i checked, it was doing quite well.... and this is way out in the desert boonies in southern Idaho!

Who wants to do this?

[DiSKiLLeR]

Who wants to do this in Adelaide, Australia? If so, please contact me :)

Okay, i know theres www.adelaide.air.net.au (and www.air.net.au !) and www.airnet.com.au...

Broadband prices here suck, and we want to give fast internet access to the masses.

D.

Re:How To Do It Yourself

[Skuld-Chan]

15 db omni directional antenna? Am I missing something here? In all my years an Amateur radio I've never seen an omni directional antenna that could do 15 db.

I think the reason why the fcc limits it to I think 6db is the effective radiated power for a higher gain antenna is in some cases (not if you're losing most it over the feedline, or that right angle adapter for the connector or whatever) exponential or in other words 1 watt becomes 10. You're probably losing a lot of gain on these cheap access points anyhow - just out of the way they are manufactured. But also 2.4 ghz is resonant with water and can make you blind or affect your eyesight at a high enough gain/power - and unlike amateur radio no-one makes you take a test to know that.

Re:How To Do It Yourself

[hyrdra]

Here is a link to one of the many 15 dB omni's available for the 2.4 GHz spectrum:

http://www.hyperlinktech.com/web/hg2415u.html

Yes, it really does 15 dB. I've tested it.

What we use

[JoshuaDFranklin]

We've got a wireless network set up in two small towns here. We just hooked up a guy about 6mi. outside of town. It look a 40ft. antenna, but I digress.

We use antennas and amplifiers from Fleeman Anderson & Bird Corp [fab-corp.com].

We use antenna masts from Radio Shack [radioshack.com].

We've found that the most reliable access points are Cisco Aironets, 340s or 350s. They can cost $1000-1500, though, so go with Linksys/SMC/Netgear if you're not that worried.

Also make sure you tie up cables on masts with something, like guy wire or metal cable ties, that doesn't disentigrate in a couple months. Always tape up the ends of the cables with electrical tape or use that rubbery stuff for protection from the weather.

And have fun!

Very interesting but Very difficult

[MrIcee]

I live on the Big Island of Hawaii -- on the side of the volcano. This is both very exciting as well as very difficult to pull off.

The Big Island has 5 mountain ranges - two of which go up over 13,000 ft and separate the island in half. Furthermore, major portions of the island have no phone or power service - thus getting the signal to the entire island will be nearly impossible. (Even our cell phones only work in very selected areas of this island -- and when I used my cell phone from the top of Mauna Loa (13,400 ft) it was picked up by a cell tower on the NEXT ISLAND OVER - Maui).

But kudo's to him!! Anyone know how to get ahold of him? (I'll try today to find his contact info) --- I'll be more than happy to put an antenna at my house!

Re:Scalability issues

[Anonymous Coward]

I can't speak for the Big Island (perhaps that's what you meant by 'Hawaii') but I know the state of Hawaii (in particular, Oahu) has a *lot* more bandwidth than 36Mbps. Witness pihana [pihana.com], which has a colocation facility in Honolulu with up to OC192 connectivity.

Re:Scalability issues

[kaimiike1970]

You should have done some research before you posted...

http://www.att.com/press/1290/901205.csb.html
I t is not too late:
http://pacific.bizjournals.com/pacific/stor ies/200 1/03/19/focus2.html
http://www.att.com/press/0993 /930901.cia.html

Check out the dates, Hawaii got some pretty good bandwidth as long ago as 1993...

Re:Scalability issues

[rumwrks]

There is lots of bandwidth in HI. I have multiple megabits at work, other people in the building have at least 3Mb, some have more, the people down the street have access to an OC3 to the mainland, and we're on one of the "outer" islands (read not oahu). It does cost a wee bit more here than on the mainland, but not much.

UH has boatloads of connectivity, check out thier traffic grpahs, hardly even used
http://thundarr.its.hawaii.edu/traffic/index.html [hawaii.edu]