What areas does gumbootwireless.net cover?

Currently we cover Taitapu, Lincoln, Springston, Greenpark, Selwyn Huts, Irwell, Doyleston, Brookside and Leeston.

What equipment will I need?

We use cheap off-the-shelf components modified to obtain good results over fairly long distances (reliable up to 30km depending on the model). The basic setup is a wireless card or access point connected to a suitable antenna. The cabling between the card and antenna is expensive and typically fairly lossy so the length between the two must be kept to a minimum. In the simplest case a wireless card can be plugged directly into your computer and to a suitable antenna, however most likely the need to have the antenna mounted on your roof to see the hill requires that the antenna is connected to an access point nearby, such as in your roof space. From there a network cable carries data to your PC.

Cards/access points:

gumbootwireless.net uses 802.11b wireless equipment. Any 802.11b compliant devices that have external antenna connectors or that can be modifed to take an external antenna can be used. It is worth noting that the faster 802.11g cards do not operate well over such long distances. Even though the multi mode 802.11a/b/g devices do provide 802.11b connectivity they do not attain such long distances even when set to 802.11b-only mode. You should obtain an 802.11b only card or access point.

Total transmit/receive power is determined by combining the strength of the wireless card or access point and the signal gain from the antenna. Every three dBi doubles the power of an RF signal so higher dBi values mean a longer connection distance. The legal limit for radiated power (EiRP) from WLAN devices in New Zealand is 4 watts. Refer to the table below for some examples of the maximum allowable combinations of cards and antennae.

* power at antenna is the power of your wireless card less the signal loss from the cabling. See here for some useful calculators and information.

Engenius/senao cards are excellent high power (200mW) cards although they are quite expensive (~NZ$200). If you live near the port hills (such as Lincoln, Springston, Greenpark, Selwyn huts) a low power card (30mW) should be sufficient and can cost as little as NZ$50. Suitable low power cards that take external connectors or that are easily modifed include the D-link DWL-650, D-link DWL-520, Compaq i-mate, Compaq WL100. There are many suitable cards available. You should search the web for other people who have successfully used/modified the particular card before buying. We're happy to talk about a suitable card with you and we may be able to help you modify your card if necessary. We can also source suitable cards for sale.

Antennas:

There are a variety of commerical antennas available or you can roll-your-own if you wish. The simplest homemade antennas are commonly known as cantennas because they can be made out of a tin can. However cantennas only provide a fairly small gain so while a cantenna may be suitable near Taitapu it would probably not be sufficient further afield. The simplest way to build a good antenna is to find an unused parabolic dish and make a biquad feed for it. Trevor Marshall documents the building of an excellent biquad here. You can obtain old Sky dishes from demolition or salvage yards. There are other manufacturers of dishes that supply to Sky (such as the green dishes) which you can buy new or slightly damaged. If you are more adventurous (and patient) you can build your own mesh dish following our instructions in the DIY section. Any mesh dish is suitable provided it really is parabolic (not spherical) and provided that the wires are no further apart than 24mm (the frequency of 802.11b is 2.44Ghz). Parabolic dishes have a beam width of about 5-20 degress depending on their size (larger dishes have narrower beam widths).

Another option for a home made antenna is a slotted wave guide. Commercial versions of these are available but a simple version can be constructed from a block of polystyrene covered in tinfoil. Slotted waveguides produce a 180 degree beam width (360 degrees if slotted on both sides). Because the signal is dissipated over a wide angle the effective power is lower. Therefore, they are not as suitable as parabolic dishes for long distance WLAN use. Typically, slotted waveguides are more suitable for providing WLAN coverage to other people, not as a client-end antenna. However, they are surprisingly powerful given the angle they cover.

How much will it cost?

Initial equipment costs:

If you already have an old PC or laptop you wish to place in your roof the total setup cost could be as little as NZ$50-100 depending how cheap you can source a suitable antenna (~NZ$50 for a sky dish from a salvage yard). However most people will not have or want a PC running in their roof. The alternative to using a PC/laptop is to use an access point. There are some excellent client access points available that are powered by “power over ethernet” (POE) meaning only a single network (ethernet) cable be run into your roof for both power and data. A setup using one of these costs about $200 + antenna. Contact us to discuss the best option for your situation.

Joining costs:

There are no joining costs.

Ongoing costs:

Once you are connected to the wireless LAN and are a member of the gumbootwireless.net community you can use the network itself unlimited for free. We provide services such as e-mail and data backups within in the network for free (conditions apply) but charge for Internet access outside the WLAN. The cost for Internet traffic is subject to negotiation depending what you want from the network and what you want to put back in (if anything). As a guideline, if you were solely a user of the network you would expect to pay about $25 per month for a starter plan (256Kbps/1GB traffic) but smaller and larger plans can be tailored to suit.

How do I connect to the network?

The best thing to do first is get in touch with us and we will organise a signal test from your location, firstly to check you can see the repeater site and secondly to determine what type of equipment you will need.

Once you have your equipment working send us the MAC address of the wireless card and we will grant access for that card to the three access points. You should then be able to associate to one of our access points. The access point SSIDs are gumboot1, gumboot2 and gumboot3.

Can I get a mail account?

Yes, we can provide you a “yourname@gumbootwireless.net” mail address free of charge. Spam and virus filtering is available if requested.

Can I get web space?

Yes, if you wish but there is no server side scripting support. We will provide whatever space is reasonable for what you are hosting. If traffic volume to the web site is high we may start deducting the traffic from your montly quota. We do not consider ourselves webspace providers in any commercial sense but if you wish to host a personal web page that is fine. If you run a web server on your home computer that is also fine (its your computer after all).

How secure is gumbootwireless.net?

The 802.11b wireless protocol was designed with a security system called WEP (wired equivalent privacy). WEP is inherently flawed and can be broken in about 6 hours (possibly less now). Since WEP also introduces a large amount of bandwidth overhead we do not use it. Most client stations we configure send their data through a secure ssh tunnel or use IPSEC to secure the communications channel. This means traffic from your house to the Internet gateway is completely secure. From the Internet gateway out onto the Internet itself is no more or less secure than via a normal land line.

Can I share my connection?

We're all about getting Internet to as many people as possible. You are most welcome to share the bandwidth you have paid for with anyone you wish. If you do share your connection with other people let us know since being an active contributor by helping improve coverage may justify a discount.

Can I help?

Please do. Anything you can do to help is appreciated. You can help with:

Web content: Help us maintain this web site. Provide us any content or ideas you have. If you want to write something in a word processor and send it to us we will add it to the web site. If you want to help maintain this web site please let us know.

Server admin: (The 4 main servers run Gentoo Linux) Managing users, network management, accounting, quality of service etc or run and manage other services on the WLAN.

Hardware: Help mod cards for WLAN use. Help build biquads for other community members. Help set up dishes on peoples' houses. Help manage the repeater station, solar panels, antennas etc.

Even if you haven't done these things before but are interested in having a go any effort is appreciated. Get in touch with us if you can become involved.

How do I contact you?

See the contact page.