[MLB-WIRELESS] WRAP kits - Bulk Buy expressions of interest sought!

[Dan Flett]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-melbwireless at wireless.org.au [mailto:owner-
> melbwireless at wireless.org.au] On Behalf Of David Ashburner
> Sent: Tuesday, 22 March 2005 14:16
> To: melbwireless at wireless.org.au
> Subject: RE: [MLB-WIRELESS] WRAP kits - Bulk Buy expressions of interest
> sought!
> 
> 
> 
> >I also am mindful that the do-it-yourself spirit is the heart and soul of
> >Community Wireless, so I don't see these WRAP kits to be a replacement
> for
> >people building their own nodes and antennas.  Rather I them as enabling
> >participation for a wider section of the population who believe in the
> >ideals of Community Wireless are keen to pay up-front for a set-and-
> forget
> >routing node.  This in turn creates a larger, better network for the
> >"do-it-yourself-ers" to play with.
> >
> 
> Interesting point that. I doubt if I would be intersted in MW is it was
> just
> a case of pony up the cash and stick it on the roof.  The problem I see
> with
> this complete device approach is that it is a lot more $$ than someone
> would
> fork out on a whim, whereas the homologation route ( old PC, WRT54G etc.)
> alows someone to get into it more slowly, get a router at home, add a high
> gain antenna, get a second one etc. The $$ still come out the same but you
> don't notice because you are on the journey.

I would argue that it would cost a bit more, dollar wise, to follow the
"road-to-discovery" route that most of us here took to get a full-blown
routing node set up.  I have bought a lot of extra wireless gear, tools and
general hardware that wouldn't have been necessary if I had just gone out
and bought a complete system - and I have spend a lot of time researching
and general playing about with the gear to get where I am now.  Yes, this is
the attraction of this hobby for a lot of us, so it's time and money well
spent if we enjoyed ourselves and learnt things along the way - I certainly
have.  But some people simply don't want to spend their time that way - they
want to get onto the network straight away and play with it.  I say, let
them, and let's take advantage of their rooftop real-estate to further grow
the network.  Let's give people the option of buying prefab nodes and see
what happens.

I know I'd certainly be keen to buy at least a couple of these WRAP-based
nodes myself to put on the roofs of my friends, relatives and places of
employment. :)  I've built more than one old-PC-based node myself - it
taught me a lot and I recommend the experience to anyone interested.  Now I
want to make lots of nodes and put them wherever I can but I simply don't
have the time or the enthusiasm left to go through the whole "build a node
from scratch" experience again.  Also, you just can't put big old noisy
240V-powered PCs in the places I want to put them - and this will be the
same for anyone who has similar plans to me.

We need to be up-front and honest with people as to how much they are going
to need to spend if they want to go the whole nine yards with their node.
Some people get into wireless networking thinking that they can spend under
$200 and have a long-range, high-speed, multi-linked node in their bedroom.
They buy some gear and then realise that they need to buy more and more and
more.  Meanwhile, they still aren't sure about what they need so they might
buy the wrong gear, wasting their money.

This isn't the right way to go about getting people into participating in
this network.  We need to tell people what their options are - be it a cheap
single-radio node (a good starting point, recommended for newbies), or a
more expensive multi-radio routing node, and then show them ways of
achieving these options - practical examples and hardware recommendations.
We could recommend an upgrade path for a node - start out with a single
WRT54G in a box, then add another AP, then either repeat that or buy a WRAP
kit.  While the up-front cost may be hefty, newcomers can be reassured that
they are buying the right gear, they will be able to participate straight
away (if they are in range of another node) and any additional future costs
will be known from the beginning.

Dan


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