
Building a Mesh Network in Rural Somaliland - benbristow
https://commotionwireless.net/blog/building-mesh-network-rural-somaliland
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cinquemb
I think it's pretty amazing the way that certain technologies that might be
considered bleeding edge by some, are being adopted more in the developing
world out of practical needs. Even more so as the costs of maintaining aging
copper/fibops grows, the less perceived incentive to move towards more modular
and decentralized systems ("we _invested_ all this money already") for the
increasing burden of maintaining that would be placed upon on others in
developed countries.

Though this makes me wonder, the routers are running some kind of openwrts
firmware[0], it would be interesting if someone had the chance to
unsquash/decompile it for backdoors because from a sigint perspective
(especially in the horn of africa) being able to tap into these networks (like
via uav recon ops) will probably be on the table.

Edit: Looks like they are funded by the New American Foundation[1] with Eric
Schmidt as chairman, interesting…

[0]
[https://commotionwireless.net/download/routers](https://commotionwireless.net/download/routers)

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_America_Foundation#Funding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_America_Foundation#Funding)

~~~
sliverstorm
There are very good reasons the developed world uses hard lines, and none of
them are "we already spent so much money on them". The drawbacks to this sort
of network are much less of a problem in the developing world right now.

I mean, my word, you think the interference on your WiFi from neighbors is bad
_now_...

~~~
cinquemb
> _There are very good reasons the developed world uses hard lines_

I wasn't saying they wern't good reasons, mostly just pointing out that the
economics aren't getting any better (for consumers or companies), you know,
C.R.E.A.M and all that…

> _and none of them are "we already spent so much money on them"._

Gotta love absolutes:

> _…The rapid expansion of this so-called distributed generation deprives
> utilities of revenues while leaving them liable for maintaining the grid._
> [0] , NRG Energy chief David Crane

[0] [http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/11/who-
wi...](http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/11/who-will-compete-
with-energy-companies-in-the-future-apple-comcast-and-you/281109/)

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samirmenon
Wow! Really interesting post. I've always wanted to set up a mesh network,
just for the learning experience. Just one question I've been wondering:

How much do you think the whole setup would've cost if you did it yourself? I
ask because I've always thought that the cost of the special hardware for a
mesh network was the major limiting factor.

~~~
benbristow
I didn't write this. Just found it. You'll have to ask the author.

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jdmitch
> Somaliland receives its Internet connection via microwaves across the desert
> from Djibouti.

Surely the main way people access the internet is through 3G either directly
on the phones or on mobile broadband. When I was in Hargeisa in 2008, 3G
connectivity was common, and I would assume that it is still the case (though
its possible Abaarso doesn't have a very good mobile connection).

~~~
jlgaddis
_> Surely the main way people access the internet is through 3G either
directly on the phones or on mobile broadband._

I don't know if that's true or not but I'd be willing to bet that most of the
cellular towers there (providing 3G/mobile broadband) are themselves using
microwave backhauls, quite possibly the same one(s) carrying the "Internet
connection".

~~~
mattlutze
Yeah, even cellular data needs to come from somewhere. The towers generally
connect to the same backbone used for ground line Internet. You wouldn't do
satellite internet connections for cellular towers because of the awful
latency.

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pedrocr
The points in the network are in the range that Cat6 can handle. Wouldn't it
be easier to just run cat6 between the points and put 50$ APs with gigabit in
each point? You'd get wifi and gigabit for the clients and regular switched
gigabit interconnect. Surely it would be much faster and more reliable. A few
TP-Link TL-WDR3600 APs would do nicely and even give you a couple of USB ports
to attach some printers for network printing.

~~~
dbarlett
You'd have to use fiber. Copper between buildings is susceptible to ground
loops and one lightning strike frying the entire network.

~~~
pedrocr
I just did a bit of googling and these don't seem to be major issues:

[http://ask.metafilter.com/57840/What-kind-of-network-
cable-t...](http://ask.metafilter.com/57840/What-kind-of-network-cable-to-run-
underground)

Ground loops shouldn't be a problem as the APs have transformers that don't
use ground at all so there's no ground connection to mess things up.

If lightning is a big issue you might need surge protectors on the lines. Is a
Cat6 cable inside a plastic conduit that susceptible to getting hit by
lightning though?

~~~
rosser
_Is a Cat6 cable inside a plastic conduit that susceptible to getting hit by
lightning though?_

IANAE (electrician), but per my understanding, putting copper cable inside a
PVC (or other plastic) conduit is among the worst things you can do; it gives
the strike only one place to go: down the copper.

EDIT: I found a comment on a CCTV forum site that corroborates this:
[http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=79496&sid=0e2686464...](http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=79496&sid=0e26864640365e658a8b0a6d54a50da3#p79496)

~~~
pedrocr
That's because you're protecting against the end-point getting hit (in your
example a camera) and then using the cable to conduct. But if the APs are
inside the buildings that's not what we're protecting against. Instead we're
trying to not get the cable itself hit.

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salient
Since this will end up being a sort of "new Internet", I hope they start by
building this one with security in mind from the ground up. We don't want to
end-up with a next-gen Internet, that's just as broken as this one, security
wise, especially since you basically have to have access to someone else's
phone or computer, to get in the network.

~~~
abkco
While this isn't what commotion is using, its what we are using for Project
Meshnet. "Cjdns implements an encrypted IPv6 network using public-key
cryptography for address allocation and a distributed hash table for routing."
[https://github.com/cjdelisle/cjdns](https://github.com/cjdelisle/cjdns)

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nkvl
Wonderful, congratulations!

