pghwireless

Hi All,

Native Burgher living down here in Delray Beach, FL. and wanted to chime in on some stuff that may interest some people...

I wrote a white paper about the future of municipal broadband wireless and it has been picked up by GovTech. http://www.govtech.com/dc under 'Special Focus', article 'Broadband Future'

It talks about 3.65 WiMax (coming soon to Delray using AirSpan), but mainly about how the FCC screwed up the 2.5GHz rules and the 700MHz auction.

Hope all is well up er' and GO PENS!

Brad
http://www.accessdelray.org/Broadband+Future.html
http://www.accessdelray.org/Local+Governments.html

Hello,

I'm a French PhD student in sociology. My research focuses on "innovations made by and for users". I have decided to particularly focus on "Wireless Community Networks" which are illustrative of a new type of approach more autonomous, alternative and civic.
For the last two years, I have been interviewing French members of "Wifi Community Networks"; I talked with them about their commitment and about the life of their project. Now, I carry on with my research and I propose you to answer to my questionnaire. This questionnaire will enable me to gather data on a wider population: members of European and North American "Wireless Communities".

Anyone with strong Wireless skills please contact me asap.
Chris Woods
TEKsystems
412.919.3907
cwoods@teksystems.com

Hello,

Can anyone connect to WifiPittsburgh with a Macbook? I am able to connect and get an IP address, but I cannot connect to anything. I can't even ping the gateway.

Thanks for your help-

I saw on bOINGbOING yesterday that
FON is giving away 10k wireless routers to Americans. FON is a Spanish company which seems to be using a similar technique to boingo or Sputnik, where users share their internet connections via wireless routers, provided by the company.

Pittsburgh is on the verge of a golden age as our economy makes the transition from industrialism to commercial technicracy. The city is a hub of research and new ideas and has the greatest potential for economic and cultural growth in the world!

Has anyone else had trouble logging into this site from a MAC? I can do it easily enough from my PC, but my laptop login gives me an error. IDEAS?

Looks like Pittsburgh finally activated the city-wide Wi-Fi network yesterday. Two hours for free per user per day.

Post Gazette: City Launches Downtown WiFi, offering two free hours of access daily

I find it rather silly that with today's security hype, protecting PCs against viruses and other malware, many people don't bother to place some degree of security on their wireless networks. I have a super-cheap CompUSA labeled router/AP, which I purchased for $18 a year or so ago, and even it supports WEP. I know, WEP is weak, but so is a deadbolt lock in a wooden door frame, just kick it in. Any type of security/encryption can and should be viewed as a "Private - Do Not Enter" sign, signaling strangers to request entry, or keep out.

That said, I am somewhat two sided on the idea of "borrowing" access via a random, insecure WLAN. Yes, it can be seen as an invitation to share access. But, let me make an analogy. On a warm, comfortable spring day, you may open your house or apartment windows and door(s) to let in the breeze. Now is this an invitation for a stranger to come in and sit on your living room couch and "borrow" access to HBO or your DVD collection? IMO, even though you can detect and access an insecure WLAN, it should be viewed as someone's private property. Unless of course, a sign is posted in their window that says something like "Get your free WiFI access here, SSID = AccessForAll".

Yahoo is running a story about Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission Approves Agreement to Allow Duquesne Broadband Wireless Internet Pilot in Monroeville. From the article: PUC approval enables Duquesne Broadband, a joint venture between BPL Global and DQE Communications Network Services, a subsidiary of Duquesne Light Holdings, to expand its BPL offer throughout the Duquesne Light service area in the coming months. Bandwidth over power-lines is a neat technology, and I'm happy to see that being used to distribute Wi-