NZWireless has been left to die as of late, this has been due to lack of interest, lack of time and the fact that I'm in the UK at the moment. I will be returning to NZ soon and would like to revive NZWireless but take it in a new direction.
We didn't have much success with trying to contect everyone together via wireless and build our own big wireless network. I don't think wireless could support this very well, at least not on the scale we were aiming for.
So I want to put an idea out there that we try and make NZWireless a bunch of hotspots that anyone can connect to and use the net. NZW would setup a RADIUS server and hot spot owners would setup something like nocat to stop unauthorized access.
Pros:
Free net for everyone
Using RADIUS/nocat would allow us to block any abusers.
Cons:
Net access still isn't cheap (maybe limit users to 128kbit and 200MB per month or something to discourge leeching).
I can't think of any more pros/cons at the moment. This service would be mainly for checking email, IM, IRC and light surfing.
What are everyone's thoughts? Does anyone still read this forum?
The main reason for the rethink is because I've been using quite a few hotspots in the UK and companies like BT are charging £5 per hour for access, which is absolutely crazy. I've also been looking at doing cool things with VOIP like using wifi VOIP phones, which would benefit from free access points.
When you say net, are you talking about the larger wireless network idea, or the wider Internet? It would be rather expensive trying to get high speed links and routing systems in place to link them all. Wi-Fi's ok, but it's not going to be good for example:
location A has to go through 10+ networks before reaching location B etc... by the time you add up all the amount of users on networks in between.
BTW telecom have hotspots everywhere now here to. Probably charge a little to much here aswell.
I couldn't imagne how congested specturm is becoming aswell.
I'm happy to jump on the free internet bandwagon as broadband becomes cheaper (compared to what is was when these projects started anyway). I was actually toying with the idea of doing this with my network in Marlborough anyway as our gear comes with such features as standard issue but if we can get the whole country involved I really think such a service carries significant potential.
I have had completely random requests before from visitors to the town who have picked up my network in the hope of obtaining internet access. I set it up for them on an arragement basis while they visited and it worked well. Obviously this shows there is potential for such a project.
Here in Marlborough we don't exactly have an overwhelming population abuse probably isn't as much of an issue here so we could get away with it.
The gear we use is from Mikrotik and has hotspot features, etc built in. The idea I originally had in mind was to allow 128/64k internet access to anyone who logged on at a maximum of 50MB per MAC address that associated. Some basic keyword filtering to block bad stuff where possible and feed the thing off my home ADSL connection.
If you manage to get a solution going I'd be happy to help test it and provide access on my network.
I am also looking at putting free hotspot on my house using the Mikrotik gear but I am still learning about the radius software options.
I will offer a 10% discount on all products on my site www.gowifi.co.nz to any members who are involved in the new project run by NZwireless.
Mikrotik is very powerful and using Radius with Hotspot Authentication and Universal Client would be the best configuration. Mikrotik currently have a beta test going for radius. They have radius servers in latvia that you can auth too, with a web interface to add users... all quite cool. Although it goes down occasionally
Well I'm back in NZ now, so I can start doing this
I too have a few servers in colo that we can use, but they're in the states. Are yours in NZ? If they are, may want to use mine as backup and use yours as primary.
I was thinking about this the other day, the only downfall for this idea is that you really need to get businesses involved. There's no point in having hotspots around people's houses as no one wants to sit on the street in their car and use the hotspot. It's better if it's at a cafe/bar/main street
Fully agreed. My AP is located smack in the middle of the CBD here and happily covers most cafés around town. Unfortunately I'm due to move it soon but I'm curious to see if locals will get on board with this.
At the moment anyone who associates and tries to access a webpage gets greeted with a static page explaining what the network is about and that they could expect internet access in the future.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ap0c_nz
Ok, its nice to have the little tea party and sit around chatting about it.
I'm for putting up a domain, and hosting radius, mail and web, to start with (I have a 15mbs connection, peered at my disposle).
Let's do it! I can put in a little cash if needed to help get the ball rolling. I don't think we need to charge at this stage, it would be worth seeing what interest there is out there first.
Maybe call it something like 'Ground Zero'? Seeing it's free and all. I dunno, just my two cents...
well, you'll all free to use nzwireless.org if you'd like, or start fresh. I can give you access to the website/setup a wiki or something, as the current website needs scrapping.
I'm in the process of playing with the Mikrotik hotspot feature. Use of this particular feature is a first for me and I will post news if I make any progress.
In most cases the CD image is easiest, just use it to boot a spare PC or laptop and follow the wizard. Note that it will completely wipe the hard disk of any computer you install it on so don't use it on your good PC!
Sweet got it going, it's easier than I thought and works very well with both a local user list or RADIUS. I'll post a quick walkthrough on my site later on if anyone is interested.
I've played around with freeradius and chillispot on WRT54GS. It took a little bit of time to set up but works really well. The chillispot/radius combo is a lot better than nocat (which only provides very simple authentication and no logging). Chillispot is being actively maintained and new features are regularly addded. Freeradius also includes a web based management console (dial-up something-or-other) which provides plenty of usage data etc. And radius provides plenty of granuality for controlling bandwidth/usage on whatever user or group basis you can think of.
Only problem with using radius is that if the server goes down, everyone on the network is screwed. I'd recommend a second (seperate) server with database replication between the two.
What firmware were you using on the Linksys? I currently run a linksys at home, and am looking to provide some free hotspot access through my gear. I want to restrict unauthenticated access, while allowing full speed to my personal authenticated equipment. I currently run DD-WRT firmware, but it doesnt provide the ability to cap the speed of users, only the speed of all wireless throughput. Im guessing chillispot and a radius server might be required to set this up.
Also, any experience with setting up HTTP redirects on a WRT54?
Yup, NZ based servers. US colo's would be good backup. And the business idea is good, along the same lines as what Reach Wireless does, although I think we would want to aim for a better quality, more value service (or as best as we can for free? lol).
Maybe advertising could play a part in funding ?
I'll draw up a website, and get one server online, for a starting point.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Noodles
Well I'm back in NZ now, so I can start doing this
I too have a few servers in colo that we can use, but they're in the states. Are yours in NZ? If they are, may want to use mine as backup and use yours as primary.
I was thinking about this the other day, the only downfall for this idea is that you really need to get businesses involved. There's no point in having hotspots around people's houses as no one wants to sit on the street in their car and use the hotspot. It's better if it's at a cafe/bar/main street
Well I have ordered my Mikrotik router and 400mW 802.11b/g mini PCI card. I am a networking WAN/internet technician but have not had much experience with servers and radius etc. Any suggestions on which of the free Radius server programmes are good, I have some old PC's 233Mhz, 32MB ram which I could use. I just want to get familiar with the whole radius server idea before the nation wide project gets started.
Any help would be good.
Try using Steel-Belted Radius from Juniper (formerly Funk Software). It's a commercial product but they have a free 30-day trial download, and it runs on Windows or Linux. It's easy to get running so you can see how it operates and I have found it works brilliantly with Mikrotik after a little experimenting.
I'm still trying to get my head around FreeRADIUS as I'm still a newbie to Linux.
I think now would be an excellent time to start on this project, now that LLU has been announced. By the time new/cheaper plans come out we could have a network already and more people would be able to offer hosting for the access points.
I agree. To get the infrastructure in place first would be a good head-start for things.
A good place to start (even before name selection, etc), would be
the organisational structure.
Who does what?
Who can input their time and skills?
Who wants to throw $$ at the project?
Draw up a project plan, with fancy squiggles and pictures, timelines
and the such... :P
If everyone can give feedback on whether they have time to
put into the project, and what their skill set is, thats a start.
I'm a network engineer by trade, and all round IT dude. With about 20
hours a week free to spend on this.
Revive NZWireless 
How about some action ? 
Seeing it's free and all. I dunno, just my two cents... 
Dont all jump in at once.. 
Linear Mode
