meraki is building wireless networking hardware that aims 'to bring internet access to the next billion people.' their products (including the meraki mini for $49, pictured) are wireless router/repeaters with applicious design. a meraki can be used to create a public or private wireless access point from an ethernet connection (from a cable/dsl modem) or from another wireless network. merakis are designed to create mesh networks, meaning that meraki devices can look for routes to the internet through other merakis in wireless range, rather than each requiring its own direct connection to the internet.

meraki developed out of mit's roofnet project and the click modular routing software. meraki is backed in part by google, and is actively organizing a free wireless network in san francisco.

the meraki mini is a mini-computer built with the atheros ar2315 chipset: a 180 mhz cpu, 32 mb of ram, 8 mb of flash storage, 10/100 mb ethernet, and 802.11b/g wifi. when unobstructed, the included antenna has a maximum broadcasting radius of 200 meters and a typical indoor coverage radius of 100-150 feet. merakis run linux (kernels and software development kit available), hacking is encouraged, and you are given root access.

merakis report in to a central management system that provides user management, billing, and remote administration for the units in your mesh. a meraki wireless network can have tiers of access levels -- free access and two levels of paid access with regulated bandwidth amounts. meraki offers to e-mail you if a unit goes offline and when it comes back online. you can also require wireless users to visit or sign on at a customized splash page before accessing the internet ('captive mode'). however, these features can be abandoned and the devices completely reconfigured by installing alternative software, such as the open source routing system openwrt (see here for extensive technical information on the meraki mini and on installing openwrt).

ideas about a shared internet

the architecture of the internet is based around interconnected computers. ubiquitous internet access (especially wireless) is gaining popular support and demand. we should consider how this service should be provided. the high costs of developing backbone infrastructure made the initial development of the internet depend on capital available primarily to governments, research institutions, and business. today it is possible for community organizations and cooperatives to take part in building local networking infrastructure. when community groups take on this project, the benefits and capacities of the network can be retained by the local interests.

one vision for merakis is multiplying access to the internet: making fewer internet connections usable to more people. merakis make it easy to create an area of wireless coverage larger than a single router can broadcast. merakis that form a mesh are registered together as a network -- a network can consist of a couple merakis in an apartment building, or placed throughout a neighborhood, or a city. the network can be used to reinforce the user community that it serves (think 'seward wifi' or 'communicasting'), and demonstrate the continuity of cooperative service throughout an area. deploying meraki networks can involve people organizing for shared and sustainable internet access.

given this model, the strength of the meraki network depends ultimately on the connections from the mesh to the internet and on the providers of these connections. some internet service providers encourage that their connections be shared through user-hosted wireless networks. others prohibit it explicitly. in any case, this model depends on leaving the collectively-run for the commercially-owned infrastructure.

one difference between a wireless mesh network and a wide network connected through internet service providers is the network distance between geographically local users. we could be neighbors on the block, but distant nodes on the internet if our connections to the internet route through different providers with different connections to the backbone. however, if we are using a wireless mesh network, our peer-to-peer traffic could remain entirely within the mesh, passing through the merakis that the wireless coverage in the physical space between us. this is an example of network use that does not utilize the border connections to the net. another possibility would be connecting the meraki mesh directly to locally-operated servers and data-centers so that more use could be independent of the external connections.

meraki in the news: new york times, scientific american