Wireless Networks Thread, WiFi On roof, are we allowed? in Technical; our ICT co-ordinator is on a mission.
He is going to use the grant we got from the LEA to ...
He is going to use the grant we got from the LEA to buy eeepc's (or similar) for the children and let the parents pay for them for £2/week or something similar.
Now, we're in a fairly tiny village and as scary as it is, only a fraction of children have internet access at home.
So he had this idea, "Can't we put a transmitter thing on the roof", an idea I dismissed straight away, Expensive, Low Range etc etc.
The roof of the school looks over the entire village, so something like this would be great, obviously sectioned off from our own network, limited, filtered, mac filtered and obviously WPA-PSK (or some exotic) security should keep it relatively mongrel-free, I thought about connecting it to a smoothwall box.
But the big question is, can we put a big rockin' transmitter on the roof? it's not that big in all fairness and only half the size of your average Microwave transmitter/receiver
Thanks, Daleus
*edit*
I couldn't find anything like this on the council website and the main google matches we're regarding "FM" transmissions and prosecution for pirate radio, My Google-Fu is weak today.
Furthermore a local hotel in Skipton has one of those beasties on the roof with a directional antenna at another village to give that entire village wireless internet, It was setup by some bill oddie types from the village, so its not 'illegal'
only if you're unlicensed. If you get a license you can transmit at 1Mw. However don't expect anyone's wireless phone/microwave/radio controlled car/walkie talkie to work anywhere near the school.
The internet tablets are a nice idea, but we aren't just using the laptops for internet, there is also a bunch of edu apps going to be installed.
It doesn't matter if the transmitter knocks everyone elses stuff out, as I said we're out in the sticks, and as long as it doesn't knock out candles, they'll never notice.
Well thanks for the replies, as long as its technically possible, i'll leave it with him, I'm sure he'll decide against it in the end when he realises his budget doesn't go so far..
You could use a mesh with something like the Proxim ORiNOCO AP-4000 dual radio access points, I believe a Coventry company Daconi (Daconi Wireless LANs Home Page) are working with Coventry University and some local businesses to set up mesh networks using the 802.11a as the wireless backbone and the 802.11b/g for client access. If you could fit something like this in the school and peoples homes or local businesses (Post Office, Pub, local garage etc.) you should, with a bit of planning get full village coverage I would have thought.
You could use a mesh with something like the Proxim ORiNOCO AP-4000 dual radio access points, I believe a Coventry company Daconi (Daconi Wireless LANs Home Page) are working with Coventry University and some local businesses to set up mesh networks using the 802.11a as the wireless backbone and the 802.11b/g for client access. If you could fit something like this in the school and peoples homes or local businesses (Post Office, Pub, local garage etc.) you should, with a bit of planning get full village coverage I would have thought.
The devices themselves simply needed to be in range of another device (in a mesh with one or more being connected to the network to be available) and they need power, and that's it. They are relatively inexpensive too.
He is going to use the grant we got from the LEA to buy eeepc's (or similar)
OLPC? That has built-in wireless mesh networking. If I understand correctly it used standard 802.11 hardware, too, it just swapped range for bandwidth and allowed laptops to connect to each other.
do the people near by know you are going to 'microwave' them? they might object to the radiation, i would have thought you'd need planning permission for something like that.
after all is you were to try and erect a cellphone station in said location, you'd surely need to apply for permission.
do the people near by know you are going to 'microwave' them? they might object to the radiation, i would have thought you'd need planning permission for something like that.
after all is you were to try and erect a cellphone station in said location, you'd surely need to apply for permission.
If a mast is being added to an existing building, and it and its equipment take up less than 2.5 cubic meters then no planning permission is required.
And also, the people nearby wouldn't be 'microwaved'. That is just random opinion at the moment, as there is no conclusive evidence that wifi does anything to anyone.
Have you thought about how you'll get that wireless signals into homes and back upstream, as it sounds like this project is to be a rudimentary last mile access solution for the pupils to work on their eees from home. Something like an outdoor patch antenna at the customer premise end may be needed - and what about bandwidth for a P2MP solution like this, i doubt any of the solutions you could go in the unlicensed range would provide any kind of mobility for the end users.
Even if you could get a wimax license, and i don't know how expensive or easy they are to get hold of, it would be for fixed wimax therefore no mobility, fixed antennas required on the outside of homes. At the moment i've heard very little on small rural wireless delpoyments using wimax...maybe i'm not looking in the right place for case studies. Just assumed wimax was a huge white elephant
Agree with localzuk mesh sounds like your best option as it's designed specifically for this sort of rural community wifi. Although i'd imagine it has the same issues as highlighted in the first paragraph.
There is also the question of the EULA with your ISP. Are you allowed to relay internet access across the village?
In terms of WiMAX, how many users can 1 antenna comfortably support support at any one time? Also, how much do the NICs cost to add WiMAX support to the PC's/Laptops in question?
in response to your proof requirements that wifi ( and other non-ionising radiation ) etc cause damage to cells, this has been scientifically proven to occur.
Mobiles, and wi-fi break down the dna of cells in the same way that ionising radiation does, just at a much reduced rate.
The hope here, is that the immune system of the individual is in a good state, and can repair the cells so as the radiation appears to do no harm, but long term ?????????
if you look at another thread i started a while ago :-
you'll see that although that thread is very much a 'learning curve' and some parts are wrong, it still contains some good links to find answers, perhaps the best thing you could listen to is the .mp3 radio capture, i suggest you burn it to a cd, and listen to it in your car??
i have also attached a document that gives links to the research done, and names of the individuals/organisations involved. ( i dont particularly think this is an unbiased view, but the document has some good points )
i am quite happy to be wrong about this, certainly the argument about mobile phones causing cancer could be quickly and cheaply resolved by the government allowing people access to the 'cancer postcode' database it holds, but it will not do this, cover up perhaps???
basically the following microwave devices damage human cells, i will try to list them in the order of most damaging first :-
mobile phone masts
DECT cordless phones
mobile phones
wifi access points
wifi devices
bluetooth
etc
you may say that the amount of damage done is negligeable, but another very alarming fact is that when you are asleep, your body does most of its 'repairs', but when exposed to this radiation , 'the repair process' gradually slows down, and that allows cancer cells to take hold and multiply.
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Originally Posted by Geoff 
