[CUWiN-Dev] Community Network Project in Pakistan: [DCN]

[Stephane Alnet]

Hi Christian,

(Added a [DCN] tag to the Subject: line.)

[DCN]

> So it
> is just an Ethernet network to the buildings accross the street...
> Thinking of it: I might have some use for that too...
>

I think that most of us would, except for one thing: it's illegal in  
most of the western world. Having a copper (or fiber) crossing over  
the fence (or through the grass) to your neighbor's house is a  
regulated area, one which telcos (and, mostly in the US, cable  
companies) make sure doesn't fall back into the commons.

(As an aside, makes me wonder what it would take to legally be able  
to throw a "dark copper" or a "dark fiber" over the fence? I.e  
assuming I only provide the medium and people use it "as they wish"?)

[PC costs]

> My problem was that I could only afford the airfreight on a few
> dozens...
>

That'd be the same thing to Pakistan, or anywhere in the world. I  
think that the DCN folks know where to get these locally.


>> 2.  Local voice server  for local communications and where required
>> can be used as  gateway for  connecting beyond LAN on POTS network.
>>
[...]

> I have 2 suggestions for VoIP over dialup
>

What told me that these guys had done their homework is that they are  
_not_ looking at doing VoIP over dialup. They want to do VoIP over  
their wired(DCN)+wireless(backbone à la CUWiN) infrastructure, and  
interconnect where it makes sense using POTS lines.

Regarding the question of low-bandwidth codecs, there is a bunch out  
there. This page is a good starting point:
http://www.voip-info.org/tiki-index.php?page=Codecs


> In general, for people in situations like Tariq's and mine, there is
> a big problem in interfacing a "fast" wireless LAN to a dialup-only
> Internet.
>

You get the same kind of issues when you try to funnel the  
Mississippi river into an inch-wide pipe. It's called congestion. ;)

Mechanisms to mitigate that kind of issue (and others you described,  
such as latency) are generally categorized under the marketing  
verbiage "Quality of Service" (QoS).

To get an overview: http://www.cisco.com/go/srnd then open "Quality  
of Service SRND", chapter 1.

Sincerely,
Stéphane