[Cu-wireless] Thinking ahead

[Ralph Johnson]

>However, our project is not yet at the point where we could utilize such
>assistance.

That is why I titled the message "Thinking ahead". 

>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.

This will work fine when your network is small, but I predict it
won't scale.  If you had a thousand members, the paperwork would be 
a major headache, and people would be trying to steal access.

>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.  

You have it completely backwards.  Nobody on campus wants a lousy
DSL or T1 line.  When I am on campus, I have gigabit access to the
internet.  The question is how people who are off campus can connect
to campus.  

We are going to have the MP3 problem regardless.  Why would 
Joe Random User want to be a part of the CU Wireless system?
Often, to download MP3s and DIVXs.  If we want to preserve our
precious bandwidth, we will have to cache stuff on this side.
That means web caches, MP3 caches, and the like.  I suppose
we could ban MP3s, but that would not be popular.

UIUC is going to build its own wireless system.  The question is whether
UIUC students are going to have to go through a DSL line to get to the
campus system, thereby routing the bits through Chicago, or whether
we can keep all the bits in town.  Most of those 30K students live
off-campus, and a lot of them are the type who will buy wireless
equipment.  Especially once the university builds its own wireless
system, we'll see a lot of people want to reuse their equipment to
be part of CU wireless.

I put up a wireless system at home.  My neighbor has a Powerbook
with a wireless card for work.  He is in the Kinesthesiology department.
I had to fiddle with my access point a bit, but now he is able to use
my cable modem instead of dialing in.  This is going to happen hundreds
of times, all over town, and we need to figure out how to deal with it.

In the long run, we will need to have an ISP.  If you rent a T1 line
and collect money to pay for it then you become an ISP.  I do not want 
to be an ISP.  I'd rather focus on the community free access and let 
someone else be the ISP. 

One of the interesting things about a community wireless system is
that the collective bandwidth is enormous.  When the network gets
big enough, bandwidth in CU will be essentially free.  The expense
will be going out of town.  All my lectures are being recorded on
video, and each week there are a couple of hundred views of one
of my classes.  Suppose 25% of those were through CU Wireless.
Would you want those 50 or so hours of video each week to go 
through our T1 line, or would you rather that the university
plugged directly into our community network and saved all that
bandwidth?  And this is just one class!  There are undoubtedly
dozens of classes currently being videod, and in the future there
will be hundreds.  If we don't connect to the university, we'll
be swamped.

Note that the university will be hard to convince.  They are more
afraid of us than we are of them.  But it has to happen to make the
whole thing a success.

-Ralph Johnson