Spanish engineer yourself connected to the Internet your city ... and then the entire region

History Guifi development - the largest mesh-network in the world




Town Hurbo (Gurb) is located 75 kilometers north of Barcelona. It is a small town, which in Spanish would call pueblo. Population - total 2,500. There are many towns in the country, but this stands out from a number of their own kind. The fact that here was born Guifi.net project. This project - an important experiment in the field of telecommunications. It is a public Mesh-network, which has long gone beyond the limits of the village. Now it is the largest network of its kind in the world.

Project started 12 years ago, and now Guifi network connects tens of thousands of people in hundreds of communities. Typically, users connect to the Internet centrally telecommunications companies, but in Gurb and other cities, the project participants have solved this problem by yourself. This Guifi network does not depend on the government or from commercial companies. The main idea of ​​the project - the participants must determine for themselves when, where and how to communicate. And users are very happy with how everything works.

Guifi there because one of the town residents Hurbo tired to wait for the local telecommunications giant Telefonica will hold in this town online. Initially Ramon Roca (Ramon Roca), a local engineer, wanted to solve the problem only for themselves. But then he decided to help, and neighbors. Rock - Oracle employee. 12 years ago, he went to California on a business trip and brought back from the United States some WiFi routers Linksys. Routers could adjust - their flexibility in setting up a well-known experts and ordinary users. In particular, the system can be configured so that the routers form a mesh-network, where users will be able to communicate without any problems. and new users can connect to the network. If you have an internet connection access to the global network to all participants.

Guifi started in 2004 with the same Wi-Fi cells. Now a network of such cells for more than 30 000 mixed network - and here wireless communications, and fiber, and other types of connections. In the near future, the network plans to join a few thousand users. Spent on the project a lot of effort. But Rock and his colleagues did not give up and did not stop even in the difficult moments, continuing to develop Guifi.

"What they have created is extraordinary," - says Sasha Meynrat (Sascha Meinrath), a professor at Pennsylvania State University, an activist of the open internet, the head of X-LAB. According to him, in the United States such an initiative would not be possible - the fact that in this country, most people need to Comcast or Verizon or other telecommunications companies.

The central part of Guifi is a set of rules for users. They are very small:

• You can freely use the network for any purpose as long as you do not harm the network itself does not violate the rights of others or violate the principle of neutrality, allowing content and services to operate without deliberate problems.
• You have the right to inspect the network and its components, you can share your knowledge
• Do you have the right to offer to the network content and services on your own terms;.
• you have the right to join the network and the obligation to adhere to these principles.
   The principles work perfectly. They are the basis, the foundation of cooperation both between individual network users and between small ISPs, and have decided to join Guifi. All this is very far gone from the moment when Fate just wanted to connect to the Internet.
  
  The main advantages of mesh-network are as follows:
  - "Intelligent" network
  is one of the key features of a wireless mesh network. "Intelligent" means that when connecting each point will automatically receive information about all other access points on the network, and "finds" its role. This behavior eliminates the need for ongoing administration and facilitates the rapid deployment.
  - Self-healing and self-adaptation
  As can be understood from the preceding paragraph - as soon as the network is turned on and begins to function, each device automatically detects the status of its neighbors and its role in the overall topology. Therefore, in case of failure of one of the nodes, the network is able to reroute data - that is, to redefine routes automatically
  . - Quick and inexpensive deployment
  Deploying Mesh network does not require expensive infrastructure and cabling. In addition, due to the self-healing and self-adaptation - this network is economical to operate.
  
  The first node of the network earned when Doom set at the highest router town building with a directional antenna. It was the only building in the area with a connection to the network. Router using a directional antenna connected to the Internet Engineer house situated 6 kilometers away from the building.
  
  Soon, the connection to the Internet started to ask the neighbors. And then the neighbors neighbors, friends and colleagues. Everyone could connect - access was free, it was necessary to purchase a router. Some sites have been converted into (Super Node) super site. The network gradually expanded, there were new connection point to the Internet, and added connectivity using fiber optics. Guifi network increases in size every day for many years.
  
  
  
  As the network grows, there is a realization that the conventional connection of new sites - it's good, but you want to ensure the stability of the entire network. It was another major goal, a task that failed.
  
  Also, in order to organize the work of the network, the efforts of two or three people missing. To join the original team, all new volunteers. In the end, the project team decided to found a non-profit organization, to become the official network. So there Guifi.net Foundation. It employs a small team, as volunteers and staff members. The founder, Ramon Roca does not receive money for their work. The organization manages the development of the network, making sure that everything runs stably and without problems.
  
  A bit unexpectedly founders joined the project and the state. Then Guifi drew attention to the European Union, which was to allocate small grants for project development. The total amount of funds received is 1 million euros. The money needed for infrastructure development of the network, which was already very large. Not long ago, the organization has become connected user and for the money. And Guifi Foundation does not charge fees on their own, instead it makes partners - small providers, whose number has reached 20. Performance pay the organization for a number of services, including the right to use Guifi network infrastructure. In addition, these same companies provide various localities connection - like wirelessly or by means of optical fiber. Providers take on the role and technical support. Users pay for this very little money - from 18 to 35 euros per Gigabit fiber optic connection. There is also a much cheaper option connects over WiFi.
  
  The founder of the project said that the progress of network expansion, it became clear that the need to attract and people far removed from technology. They are assisted by volunteers, explaining what Guifi, and that the project offers to its members. The volunteers, most of all - it is already connected to Guifi users to tell their neighbors about the project. Administration of some settlements have provided financial support to the initiative, seeking to develop the network infrastructure in the region. Almost all of the money goes to suppliers of network equipment and network services.
  
  
  
  Guifi.net Foundation continues to be responsible for the sustainability of the network. The organization establishes communication between the administration of settlements and providers, between providers and users, between different localities. Now the plan has turned into a complex multi-step process, as the network itself has increased significantly in scale.
  
  Rock every day spends many hours to work on the project. Sometimes he comes home after midnight. But the main role still belongs to the participants Guifi project management. Everyone is free to decide for itself what and when to do, how to use the network, to help develop the infrastructure or not. The main condition for all participants - compliance with operating principles that are stated above. Some users have previously helped develop a network of free, have become full-time employees. They are responsible for the performance of network segments, organizational work and planning. Now Guifi.net Foundation is moving away from a wireless connection, moving to a more robust and fast fiber-optic connection. The fact that the WiFi infrastructure organization manages inexpensive, but that's the time to maintain the operation of such a network requires a lot. With fiber optics problems of organizational and technical nature of the smaller, and it simplifies the task of the project participants.
  
  How Guifi survives in the modern corporate world, centralized networks and services? Compared with what is offered by large telecommunications companies, Guifi still a small project. Many participants believe that openness and decentralized network - its main advantages. There is even a belief that the project could become an alternative to services and services that offer a large telecommunications company. The network infrastructure is only open hardware, proprietary technology Guifi.net Foundation tries not to use.
  
  Whatever it was, but Guifi continues to evolve and expand. More and more Spaniards heard about the project, and strive to become a party to it. It may well be that after a while Guifi decentralized network will cover a significant portion of the country, and then to other countries. Now Guifi can offer to residents of remote settlements far more than large companies, including Telefonica, Orange, Vodafone and others.
  
  Source: geektimes.ru/post/278698/