In Building Wireless Community Networks, author and O'Reilly network administrator Rob Flickenger offers a compelling case for building wireless networks on a local level: They are inexpensive, and they can be implemented and managed by the community using them, whether it's a school, a neighborhood, or a small business. This nuts-and-bolts guide provides all the necessary information for planning a network, getting the necessary components, and understanding protocols that you need to design and implement your network. The wireless Internet infrastructure, also known as Wi-Fi, is based on the 802.11b standard. The book covers Rob's experience with the Sebastopol Community Network (NoCAT), a multi-tiered network that provides wireless access for O'Reilly employees and free Web browsing to anyone in the area who has a Wi-Fi card in his or her computer. He describes his experience in using 802.11b, selecting the appropriate equipment, finding antenna sites, and coping with the general problems of outdoor networking. Building Wireless Community Networks starts off with basic wireless concepts and essential network services, while later chapters focus on specific aspects of building your own wireless networks. The final chapter is a detailed journal of Rob's experiences in building his first community network. He begins with his first attempts at using a wireless card at a conference, covers the real-life experience of trying something new, and ends with notes from the Portland Summit, a national gathering of wireless aficionados. If you want to join the grassroots effort to build freely available wireless Internet infrastructures in your community, this book is invaluable.

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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