[Cu-wireless] Thinking ahead

[by way of Illustrious niteshad <niteshad at whopper.de>]

Hello Ralph,

	At present, we don't have contacts with any of the ISPs in town. 
However, our project is not yet at the point where we could utilize such
assistance.  We're still working on building what Zach Miller has dubbed our "testbed"
network on Race Street.  The idea currently in vogue is that we
collectively purchase several business class DSL lines or possibly T-1s, if the
bandwidth needs are there, and spread the cost out among all of our members and
users.  If bandwidth is purchased in this way, the ISPs have no say regarding
what we're doing, as its perfectly legal to resell bandwidth from a T-1
connection, etc.   Unlike some of the other wireless projects, we're attempting
to construct our network in a legally responsible way.  
	As for connecting our network with UIUC for anything, we're very
reticent.  The main problem is dealing with the so-called "Tragedy of the Commons"
which will occur when we connect our broadband network with 36,000+ MP3 and
DIVX starved college students.  Some of my contacts in NCSA have said that
UIUC upgraded its backbone from 100Base-T to Gigabit Ethernet because the 100
Mb network was at maximum capacity.  When the upgrade was complete, the
Gigabit network was also very quickly maxed out.  My opinion is that if UIUC
wants wireless, they have the know-how and the budget to do it and run it
themselves; such a project is well outside of any purview of CU-wireless.  Please
keep in mind that we're currently operating our own project on no budget,
pringles cans and our own hardware, with a small amount borrowed or begged
from other institutions.  
	
best regards, 

Mark

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