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[-] axh@lemmy.world 95 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

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.

[-] Chivera@lemmy.world 37 points 2 months ago

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

[-] Hawke@lemmy.world 10 points 2 months 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.

[-] user224@lemmy.sdf.org 26 points 2 months ago

It would seem a lot of people think Wi-Fi is internet. I've heard someone call it "Wi-Fi with exclamation mark" when without internet access.

[-] truxnell@aussie.zone 13 points 2 months ago

My eldest when her internet want working confidently told me her computer couldn't connect to the globe

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[-] frezik@midwest.social 24 points 2 months ago

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.

[-] Drusas@fedia.io 10 points 2 months ago

I'm old enough and nerd enough to be slightly peeved that "community built" isn't hyphenated ("community-built").

[-] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 8 points 2 months ago

For a municipal wireless network, I'm not too bothered with how OP describes it if it's accessed through Wi-Fi.

[-] fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com 4 points 2 months ago

But.. It is P2P WiFi...

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[-] meme_historian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 63 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

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

[-] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 13 points 2 months ago

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

[-] meme_historian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 months ago

Ah nice! :D Yeeeah just thought it'd be a shame to not utilize existing work that has been done on OpenWRT. But then again, it's highly unlikely that actors from similar groups haven't met at hacker conferences, GitHub repos, etc.

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

[-] meme_historian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 2 months ago

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.

[-] ryanvgates@infosec.pub 19 points 2 months ago

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

[-] upbeatWave@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 months ago

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

[-] Alatarius@lemmynsfw.com 8 points 2 months ago

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.

[-] albert180@piefed.social 11 points 2 months ago

I think it was states banning the cities doing it. Like Tennessee, being ~bribed~ lobbied by AT&T and others doing so

https://www.pcmag.com/news/tennessee-sues-fcc-for-axing-municipal-broadband-ban

[-] AmbiguousProps@lemmy.today 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

KPUD in Kitsap County, WA does something similar: https://www.kpud.org/fiber-internet/free-public-wi-fi/

They also have very affordable public fiber.

[-] TheHalifaxJones@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago

I reached out to the NYC mesh folks and they are going to walk me through it. It seems like a lot of work. But the more people who can get to help. The stronger it becomes.

[-] obinice@lemmy.world 12 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

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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[-] surph_ninja@lemmy.world 10 points 2 months ago

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

[-] MouseKeyboard@ttrpg.network 10 points 2 months ago

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

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[-] BigTrout75@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months 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.

[-] thezeesystem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 2 months ago

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.

[-] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 2 points 2 months ago

Packet shaping.

[-] kSPvhmTOlwvMd7Y7E@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

wow that's alotta porn to slow down a 10Gb connection

[-] moosetwin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 2 months ago

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

[-] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 2 points 2 months ago
[-] moosetwin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 months ago

I hadn't gotten the idea from the domain name but admittedly the comment wasn't very good regardless

[-] moosetwin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

in reality though I did get excited seeing this only to be disappointed that it's only in new york city and I live in upstate new york

[-] altphoto@lemmy.today 3 points 2 months ago

Anyone remember ricochet wireless? That was awesome. It can happen again! Why not?

[-] nucleative@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

I was just thinking about ricochet while perusing the thread. Ricochet was new when I was starting in IT and I can still remember connecting a ricochet modem to a company laptop and then pulling up our novell netware file share over our vpn. It was jaw dropping to see it at the time. Amazing how far we've come since then.

[-] zout@fedia.io 2 points 2 months ago

Reminds me of Wireless Seattle, that must be what, 25 years ago?

[-] zout@fedia.io 1 points 2 months ago
[-] unphazed@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

This is what I thought of. I remember they beamed a signal across a lake successfully. I also got into making a cantenna because of them. Used it a lot working security in places that didn't have wifi.

[-] lurch@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 months ago

inb4 they sell it to a telecom and the politicians get a top manager or consultant job at that company

[-] FearMeAndDecay@literature.cafe 1 points 2 months ago

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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this post was submitted on 22 May 2025
573 points (98.3% liked)

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