News about CUWIN

From CUWiN's partners at Wireless Ghana just sent in this update on their use of VoIP services over a CUWiN network:

November 2006 - Wireless Ghana is pleased to announce that we have successfully implemented VoIP onto our flagship network in the Akwapim district of Ghana's Eastern Region.

The VoIP is available at three locations, and allows communications between two community centers in Akropong and one in Apirede, spanning a 6km distance. An application called SJPhone is running the frontend and doing IP to IP dials across our CuWIN-based WiFi mesh network. VoIP marks the first service Wireless Ghana has implemented to work solely on its LAN. The service is available at all times that electricity is available, even when our satellite Internet uplink is not.

As VoIP technology becomes more mainstream the teams at Wireless Ghana aim to deploy such services with greater scope.

CUWiN Team members Ross Musselman (Outreach Coordinator) and David Young (Chief Engineer) are on the ground in Dharamsala, India at the AirJaldi summit. Ross has been blogging at:

http://nsneedle.blogspot.com

CUWiN is pleased to announce that we have successfully ported our flagship software to the Meraki Mini. Documentation on the port can be found at http://cuwin.net/manual/howto/meraki.

Porting CUWiN software to the Meraki Mini makes using CUWiNware even cheaper by dropping the price point of nodes that can run CUWiNware from a few hundred dollars to around $50. The Meraki Mini is perfect for making apartment buildings and office spaces wireless, as the infrastructure costs are significantly cheaper than wired installations.

For more information about CUWiN, contact
Ross Musselman
ross@cuwin.net
Tel: +1 217 278-3933 x. 30, Fax: +1 217 278-7171

CUWiN Executive Director, Sascha Meinrath, is blogging from the Alternative Telecom Policy Forum in Ottawa Canada today and tomorrow. He gave a plenary session last night on Community and Municipal Wireless Networking and the COMMONS Project (to create a collaborative fiber peering network among participating networks) -- and hopes to have the slides from that presentation up on his blog momentarily.

Meanwhile, Sheila Copps, former minister of Canadian Heritage, just presented. Ile Sans Fil Co-Founder, Michael Lenczner blogs about it here.

Meanwhile if you'd like to "join" the forum -- live video, audio and (occassionally snarky) commentary is publicly available here.

More blogging updates will be available here.

August 1, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Daniel Meredith, CUWiN Senior Network Engineer
217-278-3933 x30 daniel@cuwireless.net

Ross Musselman, CUWiN Outreach Coordinator
217-278-3933 x30 ross@cuwireless.net

***

CUWiN PROVIDES FREE PUBLIC ACCESS TERMINALS AT THE URBANA-CHAMPAIGN INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTER AS A PART OF NEW DIGITAL INCLUSION INITIATIVE.

CUWiN has partnered with the Acorn Active Media Foundation (Acorn) and the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center (UCIMC) to provide Internet computers for the public -- the next step in spreading free broadband services throughout the local community.

CUWiN, Acorn, and the UCIMC invite the local residents to try out the new public access computers. The terminals, which use CUWiN's mesh network to provide broadband Internet access, are free and open to anyone who wishes to use them. They will be available during the UCIMC's open hours.

These Internet access terminals are part of an initiative funded by the Threshold Foundation to demonstrate the potential for Internet and multi-media Intranet services utilizing a community-owned wireless mesh network. CUWiN will also be providing free wireless hotspots in Lincoln Square Mall, the Urbana Free Library, and other public areas.

Community and municipal wireless networks have gained tremendous attention in recent years. CUWiN's software incorporates research from partnering laboratories, companies, and open source projects from around the globe with the goal of creating low-cost turn-key wireless networking solutions.

CUWiN's mission is to help bridge the digital divide by developing low-cost, open source, wireless technologies and making them available to community and municipal networks. CUWiN networks have been established in urban settings like Chicago, Illinois, and Washington, D.C., as well as rural places like the Mesa Grande Indian Reservation near San Diego, California, and Apirede, Ghana.

"The wireless technologies being developed and deployed by CUWiN as a part of this initiative hearken back to the innovation and vibrancy of early Internet development." stated Ross Musselman, CUWiN Outreach Coordinator. "With a focus on maintaining Internet freedom, these new technologies support digital inclusion around the globe."

For more information on this initiative, contact the CUWiN team at:

E-mail: cu-wireless-support@cuwireless.net
Phone: +1 217 278-3933 x31.

Sign up for the once-a-month CUWiN e-mail news list at:

http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/cu-wireless-announce

About the UCIMC: The Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center is a grassroots organization committed to using media production and distribution as tools for promoting social and economic justice in the urbana Area. We are dedicated to addressing issues that the mainstream media neglects and we do not conceal our politics behind a false objectivity. We will empower people to "become the media" by providing democratic access to available technologies and information.

About the Acorn Active Media Foundation: Acorn engages in software, website, and technical development in support of the global justice movement. The Acorn Active Media Foundation is an employee-run tech collective whose members are themselves activists; the projects Acorn staff work on are chosen based on members' interest in working on them.