Customer Reviews

Building Wireless Community Networks: Implementing the Wireless Web

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Building Wireless Community Networks has three attributes I look for in a technology book:

- It's relevant
- It's accessible
- It's thin

For those who are unfamiliar with wireless networking, or those who are relatively new to it, this is a good introduction to the technology. For me, the book did a fine job of relating my knowledge of wired networking to that of wireless, showing how one is an extension of the other. It's a practicle introduction to how microwave technology enables wireless networking, and I found it to be a good primer on microwave communications in general.

The book's truer purpose, though, is as an introduction to the community of wi-fi enthusiasts, and to how this medium can (and is) being used to provide data bandwidth to places unheard of just a few years ago.

I found the sections on basic, networking configuration (ch. 3, I believe) a bit slow, but still a decent refresher. For someone who has never set up a network before, this section would be more informative. More useful were the sections on wireless tools, microwave antenna and cabling technology (with a wonderful discussion of signal loss that can occur at various points in the connection, and why), and site surveys and topology factors. Also, the discussion on the Pringles can antenna was amusing.

This book is for you if:
- You want a basic tutorial on wireless networking technology
- You have worked with wired networks, but are unfamiliar with RF and microwave communications
- You have an interest in setting up your own wireless community network (free or otherwise)

This book may not be for you if:
- You are looking for an in-depth discussion of the network protocols that are the basis of wi-fi
- You enjoy lugging around 500-page technical books that (also) only have about 80 pages or real, useful content.

I have a T1 line to my home in the country and wanted to provide my neighbors within a mile or so with a share of my bandwidth. What I lacked was a knowledge of what components to buy, what the practical differences are between components, ways to throttle bandwidth to individual neighbors, how to prevent bandwidth theft by neighbors who are not sharing in the cost of the T1 line, which components are "safe buys," what is involved in installation, what other skills are required, and where I can buy the needed components.

The title of this book started with "Building," so I hoped that it would be a practical book that focused on actually building a wireless network. Unfortunately, I was disappointed because the "building" is at an academic level, not a practical, commercial one. The requirements I have above are treated poorly, if at all. So, while this book may be great for people looking for a starter in becoming engineers or for professors looking for an academic textbook, it is less satisfactory for consumers looking to build a community network. Some specifics by book chapter:

1. Wireless Community Networks: history, some problems for ISPs, and what happens if the shift goes from the ISP to the individual network member. Nothing practical here.

2. Defining Project Scope: It doesn't. Instead, it talks about protocols such as 802.11, 802.11a, .... The "Hardware Requirements" section doesn't take you from your needs to what you'll require. It simply says that you will require hardware based on your needs and says you'll need to survey your site.

3. Network Layout: Is a bottom-up chapter with buzz words: Layer n, BSS, IBSS, DHCP, DNS, NAT, WEP, more on protocols, and security. This chapter fails to take one from problems to solutions. But, now you know the terms when you talk about actually building a WiFi network.

4. Using Access Points: Defines a lot of them, not how they solve your problems.

5. Host-Based Networking: The preface says this chapter provides a step-by-step guide to building your own access points using Linux and some hardware. But, the chapter itself just defines some terms and has a few scripts. It's not a step-by-step guide from my perspective, and it doesn't define the problem that is being solved nor who would want this.

The chapters that follow follow the pattern of bottom-up thinking: defining terms and disconnected ideas. This book would have been much better if it lived up to its title and had chapters that dealt with different end-user needs (different kinds of networks), and how each of these problems would be solved, providing answers to the requirements I listed above in my first paragraph.

I give this book not one star, but two because it does provide some terminology that serves as a starting point with wireless vendors for the discussion of actually building a wireless community network.

Building Wireless Community ... First Edition, January 2002, 138 pages
By Rob Flickenger
© Copyright 2002 by O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
ISBN 0-596-00204-1
Review written March 3, 2002
By Donald W. Larson, O'Reilly Book Evangelist
Email: dwlarson@sd.znet.com
...

Anyone who wants to learn about the usage of WiFi, more commonly known as 802.11b wireless should order this book now and read it immediately upon delivery!

Each and every chapter explains is sufficient detail what the new standard is, how to use it and extend the range legally for broadcasts. Anytime someone points out through the purchase of a can of Pringles and then turns that chip container into a radio antenna...to increase the effective range of WiFi, is a signal (pun intended) that value pricing is just a few steps away.

Rob demonstrates his mastery of the following topics, the understanding of topological maps, db signal loss over distance, firewalls, NAT, and routing as they pertain to WiFi. For those readers who just want to hook up a wireless 802.11b router and configure their network, this book covers that very well.

The book's scope covers the Apple AirPort Base Station and also Linux networks. Also the need for channel separation and bridging of networks for roaming purposes is described.

Then there is the section on the types of external antennas and how to build one from the earlier mentioned Pringles can.

Obviously, wireless brings a whole new set of questions to the security aspect of wireless networks. Rob explains some techniques that should help and provides urls to other community efforts to help find additional resources and support. See NoCat...as an example of the latter.

Appendix

This part of the book includes a section on calculating the loss of signal strength over distances from 0.5 to 20.0 miles! Also provides links to community wireless sites and FCC Part 15 Rules governing the spectrum that 802.11b occupies.

Index

Complete and adequate.

General Book Comments

It is my opinion that many neighborhoods could employ the suggested solutions and bypass the big telco's and ISP's to bring unrestricted Internet access to small neighborhood WAN's at a cost lower or equal to what cable and DSL providers offer.

Rob has done an excellent job in presenting this new technology. He takes the time to explain technical details in ways easy for the reader to understand.

Rating 10 out of 10. This rating is my own personal value system and as such is very subjective. I think a rating of 5 means I would read finish reading a book. A rating of 10 would indicate I had trouble putting a book down and have no complaints at all about it.

This field of wireless networking is burgeoning. The uptake has continued unabated since Flickenger published this book almost two years ago.

Readers would benefit from an upgrading of this book to a newer edition. For one thing, the latest hardware offerings from vendors could be discussed. But also the IEEE wireless standards have moved forward. While the book doesn't go into the details of these, a newer edition could explain what the implications of the changing standards are on you.

For one thing, WiMax is starting to emerge as an alternative to WiFi. It may not be fully defined yet, but it's close enough that planning might start on using it. Its proposed maximum range far exceeds that of WiFi. Though there is the tradeoff of ultimately fewer users who can share this bandwidth over a given region.

This thin (124 page) book is a reasonable quick introduction to the topic of Wireless Community Networks. But don't expect the usual in-depth O'Reilly detail of many of their 600 page Unix or even Windows tomes.

A better title for this book might be either:
a) Here's What You Could Find on the Internet in an Afternoon,
b) A Preliminary Introduction to the Topic,
c) I've Played Around A Bit with Wireless Networks, or
d) My Grassroots Experience in Learning About Wireless Networks

...

The author admits to learning a bunch of stuff attending Seattle Wireless meetings, BAWUG (San Fran Bay Area Wireless Users Group), and the 2000 Open Source Conference.

He appears to be a nice, tech-savvy guy, but it's a bit unsettling to read that at these other meetings he met "a bunch of very sharp sysadmins, programmers and net monkeys who were gearing up to build a redundant, fully routed public network" suggesting that the author might not see himself in the same expert category.

The opening sentence of "About this Book" is itself a telling caveat: "The ultimate goal of this book is to get you excited about this technology...". It does not claim to be, nor is it a comprehensive review of all issues, topics, hardware or software related to Wireless [Community] Networks.

On the plus side, the book is a quick 2 hour read, sort of an in-depth New York Times feature on the early stages of community wireless.

I've read two other WLAN books so far, and felt that they were were so technical that they glossed over the need for being practical. This book does a fine job of covering the basics, as well as specific applications. For instance, one section offers step-by-step details on how to configure an Apple AirPort -without- using a Mac. Another section discusses mapping out a network via GPS & topo maps. Other sections cover types of connectors, how to calculate range/distance, and more.

My favorite section is the last couple of chapters which include a review of FCC rules as applicable to 802.11b, as well as tidbits on the various Community Network groups located throughout the US...with web links to boot.

Definitely worth the $$, IMHO!

Excellent. Short and useful. I recommend it to my students as a quick introduction to Wlans. You can read it easily in one night or a weekend. Yet, don't let this claim fool you. Even if concise, the book covers all the essential information to give you a very good understanding of Wlans.

I have 23 years in the IT and am learning wireless technology. This is evidently the killer app that everyone is talking about. Before reading this book (which I found accidentally) I did not know about this opportunity.

You must already know how wireless works to understand the utmost. You will find that there are many fabulous wireless books for introducing the technology (ex. Jimenez, Rhoton, Bedell). Then you must understand the amazing options and here you will be pleased with this book but you will also want to read about software radios and the new technology for GSM ( Andersson, Ganto, Zakhov).

The Good:
Well written, clear, reasonably humorous, refreshing informal style.
Some good hacks that wouldn't normally get written up in a technical book
Can be read in an hour or two.

The Bad:
Too short (especially for price). Cursory coverage of many topics
Most of the information is readily available on the web -- i.e. linked from any wireless community webpage.
First few chapters are just fillers (Describes Community networks, explains what is NAT, DHCP, Firewalling -- but very basic).

If one removes the preface, appendix and other fillers, we're left with around 80 pages of content.

Overall, I did learn a few things from the book, but it is thoroughly lacking substance.

This is a good book to start from when considering building a wireless community or WISP. Though a bit dated, all the concepts explored are still valid (802.11b isn't obsolete, just not used as often as the ubiquitous 802.11g).