bobrk
You kids get offa my lawn
Premium
join:2000-02-02
San Jose, CA | reply to DaneJasper
Re: Hosting a WiFi hotspot?
Oh, and thanks for the goodies, Dane. |
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DaneJasper
Sonic.Net
Premium,VIP
join:2001-08-20
Santa Rosa, CA
clubs:
| reply to rzg00
said by rzg00  :I'm running linksys/dd-wrt, have a dynamic IP and live out in the sticks on a couple of acres (Ben Lomond in Santa Cruz), even so I can generally pick up an encrypted network or two from my neighbors) so I'm not sure that I'd get much traffic on a hotspot, but I do rather like the idea. What would I need to do to participate? You just need the equipment. We're subsidizing it a bit, as it's quite early in the testing. Cost is $40, we pick up shipping. Email me (dane@corp.sonic.net) with your Sonic.net username and shipping address if you'd like to participate.
One additional point. The equipment will repeat as well, so having a second unit can let you cover a larger area. I use two in my home for good coverage in the house (for the iPhone, for example, or the wife's laptop). You could also use a second unit in an out-building like a workshop, or provide a unit to a directly adjacent nearby neighbor so that they could get access.
-Dane |
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bobrk
You kids get offa my lawn
Premium
join:2000-02-02
San Jose, CA | Do you sell the outdoor versions as well, or would we buy them direct from Meraki? |
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DaneJasper
Sonic.Net
Premium,VIP
join:2001-08-20
Santa Rosa, CA
clubs:
| said by bobrk :Do you sell the outdoor versions as well, or would we buy them direct from Meraki? Yes, we do. Email me - I think we may have one or zero left, but more on the way. dane@sonic.net.
-Dane |
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JohnInSJ
Premium
join:2003-09-22
San Jose, CA
 ·Comcast
| reply to DaneJasper
Hey Dane,
How's the trial going? Turns out I have 1 consistent user off mine, so I may actually generate revenue after all 
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My place : »www.schettino.us |
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DaneJasper
Sonic.Net
Premium,VIP
join:2001-08-20
Santa Rosa, CA
clubs:
| We're still at a pretty early stage, but it's ramping up fast. We've got about 40 units going out to San Francisco residents in the next week or so, plus Santa Rosa is getting a big launch tomorrow. In Santa Rosa, we're soliciting customers in a specific area, where we'll be deploying about 50 units on street light poles in a single square mile. Should be interesting.
-Dane |
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JohnInSJ
Premium
join:2003-09-22
San Jose, CA
·Comcast
| Well, I can tell you the uptake in my residential area is far better with the new hotspot vs the old one - I never got more then a rare usage out of the "pay as you go" hotspot. Apparently, free is much more desirable
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My place : »www.schettino.us |
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DaneJasper
Sonic.Net
Premium,VIP
join:2001-08-20
Santa Rosa, CA
clubs:
| said by JohnInSJ :Well, I can tell you the uptake in my residential area is far better with the new hotspot vs the old one - I never got more then a rare usage out of the "pay as you go" hotspot. Apparently, free is much more desirable Yup, and that makes SO much sense. The challenge was to work out a way to monetize that free use. Ad bar display is going to be interesting. We'll also likely launch friendly NXDomain handling for WiFi users which provides another revenue opportunity using search results.
-Dane |
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DaneJasper
Sonic.Net
Premium,VIP
join:2001-08-20
Santa Rosa, CA
clubs:
| reply to DaneJasper
We've gotten some nice press on our WiFi project. There's a video, here:
»link.brightcove.com/services/lin···78173339
And an article, here:
»www1.pressdemocrat.com/apps/pbcs···SINESS01
A new look at Wi-Fi
By NATHAN HALVERSON
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
At the Starbucks coffee shop across from Santa Rosa Junior College, an employee suggested a patron go downtown if he wanted free wireless Internet access. Starbucks offers a wireless connection through T-Mobile, but it costs money.
"I want it, but I won't pay for it," said Nick Maricle as he left Starbucks. "Free Wi-Fi would be awesome."
Maricle might soon get his wish.
Sonic.net plans to expand its free wireless Internet access from downtown Santa Rosa into the adjoining junior college neighborhood.
The proposed free network would cover an area roughly the size of one square mile. It uses an innovative technology originally intended to provide Internet access for low-income families.
The expansion comes at a time when other free wireless projects have fallen apart.
In San Francisco, the EarthLink-Google plan to build a citywide network crumbled in late August due to the unexpectedly high cost of wireless networks. Other projects in cities from Chicago to Houston have either failed or stalled too.
Sonic.net hopes to avoid a similar fate by taking a unique -- and less expensive -- approach.
Where other projects cost anywhere from $100,000 to $190,000 a square mile to build, Sonic.net hopes to spend less than $25,000 a square mile.
Sonic.net will rely on community involvement. It is using a new technology that allows it to team up with its customers, who will contribute a slice of their Internet connection to feed powerful relay devices mounted atop light poles.
Sonic will split the cost -- and the profits -- of the project with individual customers who will help it build the network, one connection at a time.
Customers who agree to participate in the project will purchase a bundle of easy-to-install hardware for $30, with the remaining $50 covered by Sonic.net. The hardware splits the customer's DSL line, sending some of it to the free network and some of it to their home network. For security, the networks are kept completely separate.
Dane Jasper, president and founder of Sonic.net, said customers rarely use all their bandwidth and likely will not notice any slowdown in their Internet connection.
"We find that typical end-users consume about 2 percent of the bandwidth in their link," he said. "The excess is what we're seeking to leverage."
If a particular zone is getting overused, Sonic.net could supplement it by establishing a dedicated DSL line for the free network, Jasper said.
But to function at all, Sonic.net needs some of its customers to step forward.
"If we get a relatively small number of customers participating, it will work," Jasper said. "The more gateways, the faster the pathway."
Participating customers will receive 50 percent of any advertising revenue generated by the Wi-Fi network. Sonic.net will help pay for the project by placing ads on the browser bar of people who use the free network.
Also, the bundled hardware functions as a wireless Internet connection inside the home. So rather than buying a Linksys router for $60, users can buy the bundle for $30. However, the bundle lacks some basic functions of a router, such as the ability to link home computers or printers in a wireless network, because it contains a safety firewall to prevent outsiders from accessing customers' computers.
San Francisco residents will also be eligible to buy the hardware at a subsidized price, but Sonic.net is not authorized to install relay devices atop lamp posts in San Francisco. And it is the relay devices that make the network zing.
Sitting atop lamp posts, the relay points take the relatively weak signals from people's homes and blast it across the neighborhood. The pole-top units communicate together, creating a web-like mesh so if one fails another can cover it. Signals get weaker and slower with distance.
Sonic.net has access to light poles in Santa Rosa under an agreement it struck with the city to provide free wireless Internet access in select locations such as Howarth Park -- although the city provides the equipment in those areas. It has a similar deal with Petaluma, but that deal is limited to the downtown area.
Sonic.net plans to install the relay nodes in Santa Rosa in late September or early October.
Eric McHenry, chief technology officer for Santa Rosa, said the Wi-Fi expansion is good news for residents.
"What we've been missing is a way to extend our broadband appetite as we leave our homes and offices," McHenry said. "Wi-Fi is emerging as the connectivity option of choice for mobile devices -- not just laptops as previously thought, but also now for popular devices such as Apple's iPhone and new iPod Touch."
People will be able to look up a business address, the weather, or download music while sipping coffee or waiting for the bus.
Everytime someone logs onto the free network and clicks on a Google ad in the banner, the revenue will go into a pot that Sonic.net splits with its participating customers.
Sonic.net is setting its expectations low for the amount of revenue that will be generated, Jasper said. A customer who pays $18 a month for DSL could have their bill reduced by 50 cents to a few dollars, he said.
"There will be money; we just don't know how much yet," Jasper said. "It's an experiment."
The project is also a way for Sonic.net to market itself. Everytime someone logs onto the network they will see Sonic.net's home page.
Still, some analysts are skeptical that any communitywide Wi-Fi will work.
"It may be that Wi-Fi is not the ideal way to go," said Stan Schatt, vice president of broadband and wireless network research for ABI Research. "There are other technologies that are coming in."
Once 3G mobile Internet access provided by cellular phone companies becomes faster and more ubiquitous, Wi-Fi might not be necessary, Schatt said. Another technology known as WiMAX might also take the place of Wi-Fi, he said.
Esme Vos, founder of Muniwireless.com, strongly disagrees. She pointed out that Apple added Wi-Fi technology to its latest round of iPods and its CEO, Steve Jobs, gave the technology a glowing endorsement.
"Steve Jobs just said yesterday how great Wi-Fi is," Vos said. "Everything is being Wi-Fi enabled now."
Vos said it was very interesting that an Internet service provider was actually subsidizing a product that other Internet providers such as Comcast and Verizon forbid their customers to use.
"A big company is not going to do this. They don't want people sharing. They want each house to get a connection," she said.
The Junior College neighborhood has the largest concentration of Sonic.net users. About 22,000 residential customers use the company for DSL service across California, with about 6,000 of those households in Santa Rosa.
But Jasper said he is not concerned about losing customers. Dial-up customers are vanishing. And increased competition from cable, telephone and satellite companies mean Sonic.net is experimenting with several business models.
"This is the kind of diversification we need if we are going to survive," Jasper said.
You can reach Staff Writer Nathan Halverson at 521-5494 or nathan.halverson@pressdemocrat.com. |
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DaneJasper
Sonic.Net
Premium,VIP
join:2001-08-20
Santa Rosa, CA
clubs:
| Coverage map for our pole top units in Santa Rosa. |
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ankh
join:2001-09-08
Albany, CA
| I have some older neighbors (80' and about 200' away, line of sight across/down the street) who might use web access if I brought them an old Mac with Firefox set up, and got a usable signal.
What would be next, do they then get led to a signup page for Sonic? |
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JohnInSJ
Premium
join:2003-09-22
San Jose, CA
·Comcast
| I use my own hotspot sometimes
It's just a click-through on the first web access, and then the occasionally inserted ad at the very top of a page. Very easy and unobtrusive to use.
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My place : »www.schettino.us |
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ankh
join:2001-09-08
Albany, CA
| Can you tell if you're 'throttled' as an outsider, when you use your own hotspot? I gather getting this rig _instead_ of an ordinary wireless access point makes sense, but am wondering if --- either now or eventually --- the owner's Ethernet devices can be registered on it so they get full use of the bandwidth while the free riders get the ads and the speed cap. I understand that all the programming has to be done from the Sonic end for this hardware. |
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JohnInSJ
Premium
join:2003-09-22
San Jose, CA
·Comcast
| reply to DaneJasper
There are 2 interfaces - one open, throttled and one using WPA, which is either not throttled or throttled less.... I forget which.
Ah... see »Re: Hosting a WiFi hotspot?
So yeah, less throttled for you.
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My place : »www.schettino.us |
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ankh
join:2001-09-08
Albany, CA
| reply to DaneJasper
How about the "$100" (now $200, coming in November) laptop?
Can the Sonic wireless talk to this one? If so I can buy these for my elderly neighbors (and for each, also send one to one of the startup countries for kids).
Such a deal!
»news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6679431.stm
"Using standard wireless protocols, the laptops are automatically able to form a "mesh network" where each machine acts as both laptop and router, able to pass information between computers.
"If one laptop is switched on in range of an internet connection (usually at a local school) all other laptops on the network can share the access. " |
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DaneJasper
Sonic.Net
Premium,VIP
join:2001-08-20
Santa Rosa, CA
clubs: | Ya, I saw the "give one get one" program for the OLPC project too, sounds kind of neat.
Small screen and keyboard though - really just a good device for kids, not elderly folks.
I can't imagine it won't use WiFi.
-Dane |
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ankh
join:2001-09-08
Albany, CA
| OK, I put in (at sonic's website) for an indoor unit, and am waiting to hear when an outdoor one comes available.
Next time I'm in the attic, I'll run Ethernet up and put a hole under the eaves by the chimney. And I won't forget the drip loop.
I think I'll run firewire at the same time so it's easy to eventually stick a webcam up there. The view's a lot better from the roof. Maybe 2 webcams for stereo.
I know lightning's not much of a risk but would appreciate any thoughts about isolating any conductor that's out there in the weather, just in case. |
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DaneJasper
Sonic.Net
Premium,VIP
join:2001-08-20
Santa Rosa, CA
clubs: | My suggestion would be Cat-5 for a camera rather than firewire. FYI.
-Dane |
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ankh
join:2001-09-08
Albany, CA | I'll puzzle over that (don't know how I'd wire it, but I'm using a Mac). But it would be fun to share cameras up and down our street too, and might cut the car breakins a bit come to think of it. Hmmm ... |
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c_hanamaikai
Premium
join:2007-02-23
Seaside, CA | reply to DaneJasper
Hey Dane, I placed an order for a unit about 2-3 days ago. What is the status on it? |
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