[wsfii-discuss] Press Release: guifi.net has reached the thousands!

[Ramon Roca]

At wifi we decided to make a press release at the point we reach > 1.000 
thousands active nodes. That happened last Thursday.

We believe that by spreading this kind of news helps in gaining momentum 
for free networks, show that are possible, and therefore help all of us 
in our effort to make them be in the real world, for this reason we are 
underlying what has been done, not just "a project for doing something".

Please feel free to spread. But having seen news on the media about wifi 
network projects, we honestly believe that this one should be 
noticeable. Anyway we'll see, we don't have much contacts at the media :)

English version at guifi.net site:
http://guifi.net/en/node/5831
There are also Catalan and Spanish versions available, look for them at 
the link provided at the guifi.net site.

Complete text:

October 24th, 2.006

Contact: revista [@] guifi.net

PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GUIFI.NET, A FREE NETWORK IN CATALONIA REACHED THE THOUSANDS IN MANY 
METRICS: NODES, USERS, COVERAGE IN SQ. KMS, TERABYTES OF TRAFFIC, ...

CATALONIA, Oct. 20Th 2.006. guifi.net (http://guifi.net), a non-profit 
wireless free network made from individuals and several companies and 
local administration contributions, announces that at Catalonia, Spain, 
has reached the “several thousands”: 1.000 live nodes providing a stable 
High-Speed wifi access, with a coverage of about 1.000 square kilometers 
(about 386 sq. mi), providing access to several thousands of 
individuals, companies or organizations and reaching an estimated annual 
traffic within the network of about 1.000 Terabytes.

A LOT MORE THAN JUST A LIST OF “HOTSPOTS”
guifi.net isn't just a list of access points. Is much more: Is a big 
neutral network where the nodes use to have stable wireless links 
between them and therefore creating an autonomous stable mesh network, 
either on urban areas or rural areas where in some cases there was no 
High-Speed internet access before.

ALWAYS INNOVATING
Since guifi.net started to operate as a resource for addressing 
scalability issues in local wireless communities, like the critical mass 
and sustainability, guifi.net has grown to unprecedented scales, and 
therefore having to always be innovative to cut the edge and position 
the free networks to a much larger scale.

AN ENOURMEOUS WIFI “CLOUD” WITH ABOUT 1.000 SQ. KMS, MORE THAN 1.000 
WIRELESS LINKS WITH MORE THAN 1.500 KMS.
Although guifi.net has never been positioned as just a local community, 
at the Osona region, in Central Catalonia, guifi.net network is live and 
covering about the 80% of a territory with about 1.200 SQ. KMS (463 SQ. 
MI.), which means about several times the city of Barcelona. All this 
with a totally autonomous network because of the more than 1.000 links 
between the nodes by using unlicensed bands, giving a total of more than 
1.500 linear kilometers (950 miles) of linear links. That allows to 
directly connect between them thousands of computers and various devices 
without the need of Internet access.
That has been possible thanks to the contribution and active support of 
many individuals, about 23 local municipalities and some local enterprises.
Guifi.net is willing to replicate this success story in other 
territories or cooperate with other communities.

SPREADING PETABYTES OVER THE AIR AT HIGH-SPEEDS
The network provides between 1Mbps and 20Mbps of real available 
bandwidth depending on the network segment. The aggregated traffic of 
the network is reaching an estimated volume of about 1.000 Terabytes 
annually. Some of the nodes have more than a Terabyte of monthly traffic.

WITH LOTS OF USEFUL APPLICATIONS
Connecting directly computers, sharing information or Internet access, 
connecting Teleworking centers, Clubs, Civic Centers, meteo stations, 
webcams, broadcasting radio, VoIP PBX servers, connecting company 
branches or enabling direct B2B processes between them are just some 
examples of how the network is being used by their members. In the rural 
areas is remarkable how is being used in innovative areas such as 
telemetric devices or RFID enabled applications for cattle management 
and follow-up.

A GREAT MEETING POINT
guifi.net is also a great meeting point, by hosting multiple events and 
learning seminars for end users or professionals such as 5 “guifi-labs”, 
Regional events like the SAX, or supporting related events like the 
GUADEC 2.006 or the e-week in Vic. Guifi.net also supports the World 
Summit for Free Information Infraestructures (http://wsfii.org). WSFII 
is currently running the yearly Summit at Dharmsala, India.

AN OPEN AND NEUTRAL FREE NETWORK
In the current times where the original universal spirit of the internet 
is being mediated by private telecommunications operators, by having 
neutral networks in the las mile guifi.net is contributing to 
counterbalance the strict commercial driven interests. To provide 
warranty on this commitment guifi.net adopts the Wireless Commons License.

WITH A BRIGHT FUTURE PERSPECTIVE
By having limited resources and having to workaround technical 
dificulties, but proud of the achieved results which allow to reach 
thousands of members in a cooperative and civic manner, and encouraged 
by a strong demand, guifi.net wants to renew the commitment to still 
continue making free networks larger, reach more territories and 
collaborate with other groups which share similar objectives around the 
world.

All the information provided in this note can be verified either 
visiting the guifi.net site at http://guifi.net or contacting 
revista[@]guifi.net