Sorry for the rush and that I didn’t give you all a chance to place orders - but I was contacted by a guy in Hobart the other night interested in getting involved in the Free Australia Wireless project … and seeing I’m going to Hobart in a few weeks I thought I should grab a few Merakis to take with me! Plus I’ll be passing through Sydney on the way there so maybe the Sydney folk might need some, plus I have 3 people here in Canberra wanting Merakis.

So I’ve grabbed:

8x Meraki Minis
2x Meraki Outdoors
1x Meraki Panel Antenna

Also this news is a few days old now but if you haven’t heard the NSW Government has once again scrapped plans to roll out free wireless in the Sydney CBD and major areas. I think this is the third time now?

Just shows that even with a budget of millions of dollars - it’s just not the way to go about. It’s a flawed model and approach. It goes to show who has the greater power and influence and ability to make this happen. Us.

So how many nodes and access points have we got in Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth now under the Free Australia Wireless project? Forty? Let’s add a few zeros to that figure. Let’s make this happen.

Another interesting article, brought to my attention by Justin: Free Wi-Fi, but Not for All

I might leave the order till tomorrow to give people an opportunity to comment; but so far the order I intend to place contains:

• 7x Meraki Mini
• 2x Meraki Outdoor
• 6x Meraki +7 dBi high-gain antennas

On-sell prices:

Meraki Mini: $65 AUD
Meraki Outdoor: $130 AUD
Meraki Antenna: $30 AUD

Manifest has been updated four times since original publication.

They should be here in about a week after placement of order.

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