Building Wireless Community Networks: Implementing the Wireless Web - Softcover

Flickenger, Rob

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0596002041 ISBN 13: 9780596002046

Publisher: O'Reilly Media, 2001

Synopsis

In Building Wireless Community Networks, author and O'Reilly network administrator Rob Flickenger offers a compelling case for building wireless networks on a local level: They are inexpensive, and they can be implemented and managed by the community using them, whether it's a school, a neighborhood, or a small business. This nuts-and-bolts guide provides all the necessary information for planning a network, getting the necessary components, and understanding protocols that you need to design and implement your network. The wireless Internet infrastructure, also known as Wi-Fi, is based on the 802.11b standard.The book covers Rob's experience with the Sebastopol Community Network (NoCAT), a multi-tiered network that provides wireless access for O'Reilly employees and free Web browsing to anyone in the area who has a Wi-Fi card in his or her computer. He describes his experience in using 802.11b, selecting the appropriate equipment, finding antenna sites, and coping with the general problems of outdoor networking.Building Wireless Community Networks starts off with basic wireless concepts and essential network services, while later chapters focus on specific aspects of building your own wireless networks. The final chapter is a detailed journal of Rob's experiences in building his first community network. He begins with his first attempts at using a wireless card at a conference, covers the real-life experience of trying something new, and ends with notes from the Portland Summit, a national gathering of wireless aficionados.If you want to join the grassroots effort to build freely available wireless Internet infrastructures in your community, this book is invaluable.

About this title

About the Author

Original portrait of the author by Claire Abila.Thanks, Claire! Born the son of a pig farmer in Bucharest, this young ne'er-do-well had few ambitions above mucking out the slop stall before dinner. But that was just at the dawn of the digital age. Who would have thought that five years later the same boy who thought cow tipping shouldn't go above 10 percent would go on to invent the Internet, and eventually become the first living human with an ADSL line surgically attached to his spinal column. Now, in these increasingly untethered times, he has eschewed his former 6Mbit neural I/O port for an 11Mbit, encrypted, wireless version. It certainly makes it easier to leave the house without the need for miles of extension cord. Rob is the author of three O'Reilly books, Building Wireless Community Networks, 2nd Edition, Linux Server Hacks, and Wireless Hacks. He recently served as sysadmin for the O'Reilly Network, and is currently working on promoting community wireless networking through efforts like FreeNetworks.org and NoCat.net.

Edition details

• Publisher: O'Reilly Media
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0596002041
• ISBN 13: 9780596002046
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 150