Today I come to tell you a little about a project called Free Medellin. Basically it is trying to implement something that is not new, which has been done in many countries in many cities throughout the world.
It is nothing more than a large wireless network type Mesh (Or Mesh net) in the peripheries of the city, towards the center of it, thus closing the technological gap that exists between the two parties, facilitating the exchange of information.
One of the goals of Medellin Free is that the community is able to support the nodes (antennas), and that they can manage the services that are installed in the Mesh and they can manage everything. That is why networking and programming courses and workshops are also given.
These types of networks are thanks to something called OpenWRT which is the Firmware used in the Routers. Of course, each Mesh Network project edits its own Firmware and thus adapts it to your needs.
So far we have the installation of 2 nodes and we already have the 3rd to install. Among the services that we are implementing within the network there are:
- Web Server
- XMMP Chat Server
- Multimedia Server.
- Wikipedia
- Blogs
- Moodle.
Among others…
This project is carried out thanks to the community of Free software from the city without government support.
For more information:
Official Website: http://medellinlibre.co
Twitter: @MedellinLibre
FanPage: Medellin Free
Email: admin@medellinlibre.co
Excellent initiative. I wish my country would allow us to do that ... and of course, I wish we could have the resources to do it.
With the resources we are almost the same. The nodes we have came out of our pocket. The server too and well .. Here we go .. hehe
If I could I would go and help them with the infrastructure, servers, load balance ... etc
Excellent to see a post about the city where I live 😀
I hope then that you join the project haha 😀
Finally someone from my country. Was Medellin free at FLISOL?
Yes, we were. In fact, some members of Medellín Libre were organizers at Flisol.
We will also be at Barcamp 2013 and Campus Party. Like James. I hope you join the Juan Camilo project.
But I am in Bogotá.
Medellín always setting an example of modernity, that is why it is the best city in our country.
Actually, in Bogotá (http://www.bogota-mesh.org/, which do have support from the district) and on the coast (as I have heard ... I do not know specific projects) there are already things of this style. In Medellín we are still in "diapers" on the matter, but the important thing is that it has already begun.
What you have to do is increase the nodes, and fill the network with useful services (and not so useful too… xD) to keep users connected.
: D!
The district's support is really because we don't want it xD. We haven't even looked it up yet.
Hi, I'm Diego Forigua from Bogota-Mesh http://www.bogota-mesh.org and I want to clarify that neither the district nor any private or public company is currently supporting us.
more info on our mailing list https://lists.riseup.net/www/subscribe/bogota-mesh
Whose Bogota-mesh Really? http://wiki.bogota-mesh.org/doku.php?id=inicio:preguntas_frecuentes#de_quien_son_estas_redes
Best regard
Hi. Let's see if I understand what this is:
Is it a LAN in a village?
The idea is very good so that instead of many people hiring an Internet service from the ISP, get together among several neighbors, hire a single more powerful line and create what you post here. In other words, a LAN between neighbors.
Of course, you have to make a contract for each of the parties (neighbors) to pay what corresponds to the service and analyze who will be the network administrator and how it will be implemented.
It is interesting.
The idea is not to have internet. The idea is to create a large WLAN where all the services that are needed are in the same network. For example Wikipedia. Moodle or connection via VPN to paginate and virtual courses of Universiades. The idea is not to network them so that they get on Facebook. The idea is that they take advantage of it.
Amen! ... the best thing about the initiative is precisely this
You got it right and wrong xD !.
Although technically it is a «LAN», it is wireless, that is, WLAN.
Although it would be between neighbors, it really is something much broader, not only in the neighborhood, but rather in the city. This entails having antennas much more powerful than those of a normal "wifi".
Regarding the internet contracted from an ISP, the idea of mesh networks is precisely to be a city internet, where the services offered are not from people on the other side of the world (coffcoffEEUUcoffcoff!), But rather they are hosted directly in the city , connected to the mesh network. As the connection to this network is free (it is wireless, community, and, depending on the nodes that there are, with enough coverage), there is no need to pay anyone to be connected to the network.
When we contract the internet with an ISP, we pay for the connection that the ISP had to make to the main cables and all that. Here this is obvious, because the idea is to make a “small internet at the local level”, with all the advantages and cost savings that this entails, especially for people who cannot pay the prices, or places where there is no coverage. For example, a company can make use of the network (by making a VPN) to interconnect two offices that are one or two kilometers apart. This is much cheaper than paying for a dedicated connection for each office.
I hope that with all this you have a better idea of the matter, regards ^ _ ^
Sure, I get it. It would be very useful to connect government services such as some procedures that are done by completing online forms. Those who do not have Internet access have to queue in long lines at the offices for a procedure that takes minutes (for example, obtain the CUIL / CUIT certificate).
Anyway, good luck with the project.
And how can I be linked, this is the type of project that should be supported, it is for me a way to revolutionize with the mind, I would love to be part of it !!!
At the end of the post I leave you the contact information. Well, join Medellín Libre like that.
excellent very well, greetings from Bucaramanga!
Excellent initiative. I hope that in Peru this system will be made to distribute the internet in a more equitable way to unreachable regions, also that this serves as an example to avoid having to resort to unscrupulous people who put an Access Point hanging on a pole and that the provider scams you of the most brazen way.
In Spain we have something called guifi.net, which is also very revolutionary, and for a minimum cost of 10 euros a month I think, you had internet of 20/20
guifi.net is the largest mesh network in the world. That is the goal of the others 😀
On the Atlantic coast we are also working hard with Caribemesh, currently the architecture is being done to install nodes in getsemani a popular neighborhood in the center of Cartagena and we are talking with the people of Unimagdalena and people of La Guajira to expand the community throughout the caribbean region. Here is our page which is still under construction http://www.caribemesh.org and you can find us on twitter as @CaribeMesh.