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[–] 122 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (22 children)

I am old enough and geek enough to be bothered by the use of the word "WiFi" instead of the Internet or just network.

It's only WiFi if you connect the wireless router at the end.

Edit: just noticed mention of the "antenna at the roof" on the page, but I still don't think it's WiFi, "WiFi" is a name of the technology that allows wireless access by multiple devices. I think it's rather radio communication between the router and the access point. They basically use radio waves instead of the cable, it was often used in rural areas in my country, where putting cables would be too expensive.

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  • [–] 49 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    Same here and when people refer to the PC tower as the CPU

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  • [–] 13 points 1 year ago

    That I cut a bit of slack for, because prior to the minicomputer let alone the microcomputer, the CPU would likely have been a large component like the whole system is for a desktop PC.

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  • [–] 37 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    WiFi is a specific protocol, IEEE 802.11 (with a lower case letter at the end for the version). There have long been hobbyist and commercial methods for using it with point-to-point links. There are some other wireless methods for this, like LoRa/Meshtastc, but they tend to be slower and less developed. Everyone prefers using WiFi.

    So, yes, they are using WiFi in a point-to-point way. The antenna is directional to give it (potentially) several miles of range.

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    [–] 77 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

    I hope they are aware of https://freifunk.net/ and don't start from scratch completely. They've been doing that kinda stuff for over a decade and have developed a modified OpenWRT version and maintain lists of compatible routers

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  • [–] 23 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    NYC Mesh has been around for more than a decade. I assume they talked to other similar projects when building it.

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  • [–] 11 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I see freifunk networks more rarely nowadays. They also are notoriously slow. Usually the mobile phone network is faster, even in Germany.

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  • Yeeah it kind of fizzled out, that's true. In larger cities it used to be useful sometimes because of abysmal cell coverage and shady public WiFi. That has improved a lot since then, so yeah nowadays it can't hold a candle to 4G/5G mobile data.

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  • [–] 23 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    Does anyone know what other cities are building similar networks? Or how to get started doing it in your city?

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    I think European has a head start on this. Not sure which US cities are doing it

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I've heard rumors (or not rumors) of several cities across the US than outright ban community ISPs. I don't know the truth of it, but I'm sure someone here can enlighten us on it and/or have trustworthy sources of info.

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    [–] 22 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Cue lawsuits from ISPs in 3, 2, 1...

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  • [–] 20 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Can they start building affordable housing and go around the manipulated housing market?

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    [–] 15 points 1 year ago* (6 children)

    Okay, going off the title to start with you're building a WiFi network, that's very cool (I'm guessing it's a mesh network), but will you connect it to the Internet too?

    That'd be more of a headline if so, then just building a WiFi network.

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    [–] 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)
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    [–] 14 points 1 year ago

    I’m shocked this is going through. I gotta imagine at least Tennessee will block it. They’re super pro-big isp.

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  • [–] 13 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Getting ready to drop some raspberry pi OpenWRT WiFi 7 with WiFi HaLow around westchester to downtown. Let me know needed areas!

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    [+] 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
    [removed by mod]
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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Okay I read the explanation on their faq page but I’m still kinda confused on how this works. Don’t they need like satellites for internet access? What exactly is this in simple terms? Like it seems good, I just want to understand it

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    You don't need satellites, just some connection on a datacenter (like but internet in bulk, maybe they have some special deal and is free or very cheap). But this is the boring part, the fun part is that you can connect to the hubs (light blue dots in the map) with a router with an antenna or you can connect to another router (red dots). The network is like a living being that keeps expanding. Then to go out to the Internet, the packets are jumping as they can between neighbors (they have a way to know the path) until they reach the datacenter. It looks like you only have to pay for the initial equipment (plus some donations to maintain the network), but it will probably end up costing you some of your time maintaining the network, learning and helping other people in the network.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    How long until the cities' PDs start busting down peoples doors for this?

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    [–] 7 points 1 year ago

    Reminds me of the time I shared my Internet with my friend who was in another apartment. We just created a Wi-Fi bridge with dd-wrt. That was 15 years ago.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    I wish I had that near me, but unfortunately I don't live in New York (United States), I live in New York (United States).

    ARGH PLACENAMES

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    [–] 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Way way long ago I remember when I lived in Portland that they tried this, it was a pilot program. Idk if it's true or propaganda but it didn't work out because it was slow down because of how much porn people where downloading, so they didn't expand it and just stoped doing it.

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