pghwireless - Pittsburgh's Wireless Community

pittsburgh south side s13th street

americo — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:35:32 -0400

aight i just moved to pittsburgh for college and i am looking for a good wifi connection that i can hook up to from my dorms... i am living on south 13th street on the south side right off of carson.. can anyone tell me a good one to connect to so i can do my work from home and not have to drive a bit to find a place with a connection... i would greatly appriciate it.. thanx

anyone?

disposable — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:55:11 -0400

does anyone still look at this pghwireless site???? or is it just dead now?

The Future of Municipal Broadband Wireless

bbowman — Tue, 27 May 2008 11:11:53 -0400

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

Academic Research on Wireless Community Networks

Cédric Calvignac — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 12:31:49 -0500

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".

Great Wireless Position In Pittsburgh area

cwoods — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 17:14:45 -0400

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

Help! New to Pittsburgh

SarahBanach — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 18:08:36 -0400

I am looking for WiFi in Lawrenceville. If you can give me any tips/advice that would be great. Thanks!

Cannot connect to Wifi Pittsburgh with a Mac

joshbpa — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:00:49 -0400

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-

Shadyside Wireless up and running

drewzhrodague — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 14:26:59 -0400

I've been speaking with Jon from the Shadyside Inn, and he has done something that no other group in Pittsburgh has been able to do -- singlehandedly setup a WiFi network in Shadyside, which is also the first ever memorial wireless network. Most of the other implimentations that were attempted in the area have relied upon point-to-point links (Grok), expensive third-party hardware (Hobnob), community support (pghwireless), or a payment stream (Downtown WiFi).

Alaska: Using Free WiFi = Theft of Services

drewzhrodague — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 09:18:04 -0500

More weirdness from Alaska, reported by boingboing. This time, someone was using a free wireless network provided by a library from his car, which got the laptop confiscated, and the man charged with theft of services. There's also a few links about other recent stories of misinformed authorities. Additionally, CNET has an article about WiFi Mooching and the Law, which does a good job of explaining about how the related (yet unrelated) laws work: Y

dorkbotpgh

drewzhrodague — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 23:00:59 -0500

dorkbotpgh has been attracting a bit of attention in the local news recently (Trib, PopCity, Citypaper).

WSN Planet - Wireless Sensor Network Planet

drewzhrodague — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 21:54:08 -0500

I just got a note via Chintu from Helium Networks about one of his new projects, Wireless Sensor Network Planet which is an on-line community for everyone who desires to learn, share (contribute) and grow their knowledge about the
wireless sensor networks.

FON gives away 10k wireless routers

drewzhrodague — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 16:23:11 -0500

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's Golden Age

benjibalix — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 08:09:30 -0400

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!

MAC Login versus PC

reedme36 — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 14:08:12 -0400

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?

Downtown WiFi Activated

drewzhrodague — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 11:04:52 -0400

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

Comment on WPLUG post on WiFi "Borrowing"

curlynoodle — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 09:02:27 -0500

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".

Pittsburgh PUC Approves Wi-Fi in Monroeville

drewzhrodague — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 15:00:42 -0500

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-

Post-delay Resurrection

drewzhrodague — Sun, 20 Nov 2005 11:09:53 -0500

The PGHWireless website is back up and running, with a few changes and enhancements. We've upgraded the site from PHP-Nuke to Drupal, and completed migrating the users and articles over. As it is, it will take a while to put the links back in order, and produce a relevant theme (black and gold). I invite the community once again to post news, links, articles, and opinions on Pittsburgh's Wireless Community Website!

802.16a WirelessMAN Approved!

Drew — Thu, 30 Jan 2003 14:18:39 -0500

Looks like the spec for 802.16a is approved (Thanks yournet, on dev-seattlewireless), it's supposed to deal with more of a longhaul strategy of metropolitan wireless networks. The site for the working-group also mentions other groups of subsets, I'm not sure which one makes sense for which application, I haven't read any of them yet. Of course, it depends on who's making the equipment.

Credit card sized WiFi sniffer

Drew — Mon, 13 Jan 2003 16:33:08 -0500

"Wi-Fi Sniffer, WFS-1, detects Wi-Fi availability by the press of a button. No longer do you have to boot up your laptop or walk around with your laptop turned on, hence reducing the risk of hard drive crashes. Pressing the button on the Wi-Fi Sniffer will tell you whether access is available." [Via BoingBoing]

How Warchalking Died

Drew — Sun, 12 Jan 2003 13:35:55 -0500

How Warchalking Died. It's downfalls include the fact that it was a grassroots movement by amateurs, the symbols are hard to maintain (it's chalk!) and warchalking is not always endorsed by the owners of the particular network. The introduction of the WiFi Zone by the WiFi Alliance brings us an alternative to warchalking with a standard, official logo for participating networks.

Robot Club Bar and Grille

Drew — Thu, 09 Jan 2003 23:42:49 -0500

Holy Shit! Check-out the Robot Club Bar & Grille! They're waaaay southeast, in North Huntingdon. Too bad they don't have enough room for robots built from earth-moving equipment, but it still looks like fun!

The Ultimate WLAN

Drew — Mon, 30 Dec 2002 16:59:14 -0500

Unleash the power of 802.11b. Get an Amateur Radio Technician License with a straight forward written test from the "technician" question pool. There is no Morse code required to work 802.11b under the FCC Amateur Radio rules. Then run up to 100 watts LEGALLY on your AP using any antenna you would prefer.

Help us fulfill the ultimate dream of a high speed data national radio network and free Internet access everywhere for everybody. To learn more about Amateur Radio, immediately go to http://www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/hamfaq.html

15 Days to PGHNYE

Drew — Mon, 16 Dec 2002 12:46:34 -0500

Only 15 days until 2003-D, Pittsburgh's biggest and best New Year's Eve
bash. (www.PghNYE.com)

2003-D - Pgh's New Year's Eve Event
Date: Tuesday, December 31st. 9 'til ?
Location: The Rubicon Bldg. 201 S. Highland Ave. (next to Casbah)
Details: Performances by Brownie Mary, Johnson's Big Band, 3 DJs, and more
to be announced soon
* VIP Lounge Tix and Group rates available

For 2003-D info and tix, visit www.PghNYE.com or call 412.782.6256. Get your
tix soon.

Thank you,
The PghyNYE Crue
info@pghnye.com

The DOCSIS is In!

Drew — Thu, 12 Dec 2002 15:39:52 -0500

Excellent take on cable-modems and WiFi on DailyWireless . Go check it out.

Disco Antenna Proposed

Drew — Tue, 10 Dec 2002 21:21:53 -0500

Mike Schuler posted in the HostAP group about a Disco Antenna. Sounds pretty interesting, I wonder if there's a fractal-antenna design that would perform the same effect. Read On for more details.

Microsoft launches Tablet PC on RoamAD's Cellular Wi-Fi network

Drew — Tue, 03 Dec 2002 01:10:19 -0500

Microsoft launches Tablet PC on RoamAD's Cellular Wi-Fi network

Way-back Wireless

Drew — Tue, 03 Dec 2002 01:09:23 -0500

Check-aht Dahntahn Whiffey Scans An'at

Drew — Thu, 14 Nov 2002 21:02:48 -0500

SoSide AP Shows Usage

Drew — Thu, 14 Nov 2002 19:16:15 -0500

Our SoSide Hotspot, illuminating Primanis, has seen some usage. I've included the results in the Read More option. While definately not the most popular place on earth, we have 5 unique MAC addresses (commented-out for their privacy), and it looks like BOB tried a couple of cards. Two of these people are Wardrivers -- I've spoken to them in the past. I'm wondering where my MAC address went from this list...