Ok so we don’t want to commercialise the consumer end of the wifi mesh network … firstly because one of the major drivers underpinning this initiative is rolling out free broadband access as is reflected in the name “Free Canberra Wireless”, and also because collecting money for the use of a wireless Internet service or indeed any wireless radio service has implications for licensing with ACMA, the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

However we do need to work out how to subsidise the cost of Merakis and their implementation plus other supporting activities including promotion and information dissemination.

So - how about we invited companies to advertise through the Meraki splash page and persistent browser toolbar that all users see upon connecting to a public Meraki mesh network and browsing the Internet while connected? I’m surely we could capitalise on that potential advertising space and secure the necessary funding to continue the mesh network roll out.

The only problem is having enough of a network in place and a feasibility plan to make the offer attractive to potential advertisers.

Found a cool little free wireless network scanner the other day that runs on Windows Mobile 5 (WM5) called WiFiFoFum. I’ve got it running on my i-mate JASJAM PDA phone at the moment and have been scanning the local wifi networks in my neighbourhood.

It can scan almost constantly (I’ve got mine running on a 1,000 ms rescan) and will display all the networks in a spreadsheet with SSID, signal strength, WEP on or off, type of node and some other figures.

Also I found an explanation for the RSSI (signal strength) values that WiFiFoFum displays - basically anything above -70 is good.

Would be nice if it could indicate CTD (Clear To Send) flag, and I’m a bit dubious of the radar display mode - but otherwise very cool, very useful (for someone planning to roll-out a large scale wifi mesh network). And there are a lot of wireless networks in our neighbourhood. About 20 in the distance from my house to the bus stop. Some of them are even open!

All I have to do is convince them all to piggy back a Meraki off their network …

I intend keeping a few spare Merakis handy at all times in-case anyone needs or wants one at short notice (although shipping them from the US is very quick) - so right now I have 2 surplus Meraki Mini indoor units; once I get around to doing up the copy for the leaflet I intend distributing in our street and the adjacent two I hope at least a few neighbors will get on-board and I can sell or lease the units to them … but if you need one or your bust yours then contact me.

When I first configured my mesh network some people were saying use “freethenet” as the SSID, others saying that’s obsolete now and just to use “meraki”. I ended up going with meraki, but I’ve since changed it to “meraki-freewifi”. If people are browsing wireless networks in their area and they see something with the name “meraki” and don’t know anything about it, even if it’s open they may not be inclined to investigate. You have a look at the SSIDs of wifi networks you could connect to in your area and see if you can determine from the name whether you’re invited to join them!

At least if I have “freewifi” in the SSID then people will know they’re welcome to connect; once they do then they’ll see the splash page and the browser ad banner and have ready access to more information about Meraki and the Free Canberra Wireless project.

In other news, my Meraki order arrived today - here are some pics of the Meraki Outdoor.

“What is an SSID?” on Wikipedia