[1st-mile-nm] 12 Communities Experimenting with Mesh Networks

[Richard Lowenberg]

An interesting article on wireless Mesh Networks, with 12 examples,
including La Canada, serving the poorly served, extended Santa Fe area.

Anyone from La Canada want to give us an update?

RL

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12 Communities Experimenting with Mesh Networks
 
http://technical.ly/2015/04/06/12-communities-experimenting-mesh-networks/ 
 
By Jason Tashea
Apr. 6, 2015 10:53 am
 
Whether to get around traditional ISPs or to bulk up resiliency in the event of a disaster, these mesh networks are worth knowing about.
 
Mesh networks help people stay connected while avoiding traditional internet providers. Motivation around the country for creating community mesh networks ranges from a desire for social justice, improved information access during natural disasters or just the need to experiment.
 
A mesh network creates reliable and redundant wireless internet access. Instead of relying on a wired access point to the internet like a traditional network, a mesh network uses wireless radio nodes that speak to each other, thus creating decentralized wireless access points. Because a mesh network does not have to communicate through a central organization (like an ISP), if one node goes down the network will self heal — allowing service to continue without interruption.
 
You are probably wondering, how is this different than your WiFi at home? For one, mesh networks are actually wireless. If you think of your at-home wireless router, it is wired directly to the internet. Within a mesh network, only one node needs to be hardwired. All the other nodes, of which there could be hundreds, do not require direct access to the internet, just access to the mesh network itself. This allows a mesh network to operate without laying new cable, or as a local network during a service outage.
 
The application of mesh networks varies depending on need and environment. Here are 12 community mesh networks around the U.S. we checked up on:

(snip)

La Cañada Wireless Association (LCWA), Santa Fe
 
The La Cañada De Los Alamos Land Grant area outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico is rural. According to the 2010 census, 434 people lived there. Locally owned and operated by its members, this project provides low-cost internet in an area with lacking infrastructure. Instead of creating a mesh network that covers an entire geographic area, LCWA focuses its nodes to jump directly from an access point to a member’s home. According to their website, this allows an unobscured access point to reach a home up to ten miles away. While it is unclear if the LCWA is still fully functional, the model is none-the-less important to note, because it illustrates the application of mesh networks outside of urban areas.


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Richard Lowenberg, Executive Director
1st-Mile Institute          www.1st-mile.org  
P. O.  Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM    87504
505-603-5200                 rl at 1st-mile.org
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