RE: Kitsap County

There is not much holding the Seattle Wireless group from forming a
non-profit, or heck, maybe even a for-profit corporation to build out a
nicely structured wireless network in the Seattle area.

The earlier post about the triple-play: voice, video, and data would be
the key of course.  We could do what that guy in Canada did but scale it
up a bit.  The guy in Canada got a T-3 to his house and set up a
commercial satellite dish in his back yard.  He payed the satellite
video feed providers their fee and was legally allowed to resell the
content.  He put together a server with tons of disk space and recorded
everything that came off of the satellite onto the hard disks.  Then he
deployed  802.11g links to his neighbors and gave each one a mini-itx
box running Linux.  His neighbors/customers get video-on-demand using
the open source client-server MythTV dvr software, voice service using
the open source asterisk voip pbx, and data using the mini-itx as a
router.

The way I see it, the only thing that couldn't be done with the current
status of the group is the commercial satellite TV.  That would have to
be funded to get going.  The group form a non-profit, borrowed money,
and then dedicate profits to network expansion and marketting.  Using
open-source software and cheap, OTS hardware, there may be a way to
provide video/voice/data for a single low fee.

I believe that if we were serious and organized all of our knowledge, we
could design a network topology plan and a deployment plan that would
make sense.  Then it is just identifying the initial startup needs and
establishing marketting.  One incentive to get geeks in key areas to
pony up and help establish the intitial network would be to offer
rewards for nodes coming online in key areas.  The network topology plan
could identify key areas (i.e. Queen Anne, Capitol Hill, etc) and then
offered bounties based on how close the node maintainer was to the
"sweet spots" on the map.  I would even suggest that the reward be free
service via the equipment that the group hosts on their property.

The reason the swn hasn't taken off is because it is primarily a geek
tinkering enterprise.  Has anybody stopped to think, "what would we do
with the network if we achieved our build-out goals?"  Sure the website
for SnowNet says we'll use VOIP and whatnot, but you can do that with
normal DSL connection without the cost and hassle of buying wireless
gear, building/buying antennas, and working to keep the links up.  I
think the network would remain pretty much unutilized except for some
chatting or gaming maybe.

There has to be a service or product to fuel the deployment of the
network.  If swn wants to become a true community network, the community
will have to want it to exist.  That will only happen if it gives the
community something for free or cheaper than they buy it now.  The
video/voice/data at one low price seems like the way to go.

Dave
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