Building Wireless Community Networks is about getting people online using wireless network technology. The 802.11b standard (also known as WiFi) makes it possible to network towns, schools, neighborhoods, small business, and almost any kind of organization. All that's required is a willingness to cooperate and share resources. The first edition of this book helped thousands of people engage in community networking activities. At the time, it was impossible to predict how quickly and thoroughly WiFi would penetrate the marketplace. Today, with WiFi-enabled computers almost as common as Ethernet, it makes even more sense to take the next step and network your community using nothing but freely available radio spectrum. This book has showed many people how to make their network available, even from the park bench, how to extend high-speed Internet access into the many areas not served by DSL and cable providers, and how to build working communities and a shared though intangible network. All that's required to create an access point for high-speed Internet connection is a gateway or base station. Once that is set up, any computer with a wireless card can log onto the network and share its resources. Rob Flickenger built such a network in northern California, and continues to participate in network-building efforts. His nuts-and-bolts guide covers:

• Selecting the appropriate equipment

• Finding antenna sites, and building and installing antennas

• Protecting your network from inappropriate access

• New network monitoring tools and techniques (new)

• Regulations affecting wireless deployment (new)

• IP network administration, including DNS and IP Tunneling (new)

His expertise, as well as his sense of humor and enthusiasm for the topic, makes Building Wireless Community Networks a very useful and readable book for anyone interested in wireless connectivity.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 17 Ratings

A 3rd edition would be handy - 2005-03-08
Reviewer Rating:
This field of wireless networking is burgeoning. The uptake has continued unabated since Flickenger published this book almost two years ago.

Readers would benefit from an upgrading of this book to a newer edition. For one thing, the latest hardware offerings from vendors could be discussed. But also the IEEE wireless standards have moved forward. While the book doesn't go into the details of these, a newer edition could explain what the implications of the changing standards are on you.

For one thing, WiMax is starting to emerge as an alternative to WiFi. It may not be fully defined yet, but it's close enough that planning might start on using it. Its proposed maximum range far exceeds that of WiFi. Though there is the tradeoff of ultimately fewer users who can share this bandwidth over a given region.

Very Practical - 2005-10-11
Reviewer Rating:
This is one of the most practical technical books I read. It covers all aspects that should be considered for wireless community networks, not only in regards to wireless (like db loss and stuff) but also some networking aspects like NAT.
Good description of some of the largest wireless communitie in the US as well.

The format is a mess - 2009-07-04
Reviewer Rating:
Please note that the 1 star tha I give is for the kindle version, not the book itself. I cannot rate the content of this book, because the format of this book is so mess up, it made reading very difficult. I never notice that how important the layout and formatting of a book to the reading experrience. Don't buy it.

A great starting place - 2009-05-04
Reviewer Rating:
This is a good book to start from when considering building a wireless community or WISP. Though a bit dated, all the concepts explored are still valid (802.11b isn't obsolete, just not used as often as the ubiquitous 802.11g).

Lots of good info, but somewhat dated. - 2007-09-16
Reviewer Rating:
Just finished reading 'Wireless Community Networks'. It's a worthwhile read and I took a lot of good info from it. Would have liked to have more info about 802.16. I was surprised to see a lot of 802.11a info but not a word about 802.11n which is now the latest greatest. Perhaps you'd be better off waiting for the 3rd edition.

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