So, you want to send an email with an attachment to your teacher? Or perhaps you want to browse the Smithsonian's website in order write a paper for your class. Prior to November, if you were a teenager on the Mesa Grande Reservation, uploading the attachment might have taken you half an hour, and browsing the graphic-laden website of the Smithsonian Museum would have been a nightmare. Before the Community Wireless Network was activated there, telecommunications infrastructure at Mesa Grande was limited to satellite television and wire-line telephone service. Now, each home has wireless broadband service thanks to the efforts of the Southern California Tribal Digital Village and the CUWiN (Champaign-Urbana Wireless Network) Foundation.
Since 2000, the CUWiN Foundation has been supporting community-owned networks around the globe. CUWiN currently has networks deployed on the Mesa Grande Reservation in Southern California; in several neighborhoods in Chicago; Urbana, Illinois; Homer, Illinois; Apirede, Ghana; and Mamelodi, South Africa. The organization also organizes the International Summit for Community Wireless Networks (http://wirelesssummit.org/).
What makes CUWiN attractive to communities and municipalities is a combination of engineering, social policy, and common sense. CUWiN's research and development efforts have produced wireless mesh networking software that is robust, fault-tolerant, and the most scalable wireless solution on the market. Because it is built using open source technology, the software is free to download. CUWiN networks are ideal for low-income communities because the software is free and is designed to run on the cheapest available hardware. One CUWiN node costs one-seventh of the cost of the leading mesh wireless solution.
In so many ways, community wireless networks make sense. Mesh technology maximizes the efficiency of peer-to-peer applications, like email and instant messaging programs. In Champaign, Illinois, emails sent between my neighbor and me travel through Chicago, but not with CUWiNware. Instead, CUWiN's software allows data to travel directly from its point of origin to its destination, reducing network overhead.
The cost-effectiveness of the network allows municipalities and community technology centers to reap the rewards of owning their own communications infrastructure. When communities own their own infrastructure, the cost of Internet connectivity is reduced for all community members. In addition, students and CTC participants can utilize educational resources in their homes. Finally,
municipal broadband projects have demonstrated an ability to spur economic development and job growth.
The CUWiN Foundation and the community networking initiatives it supports present opportunities for communities to liberate themselves from the inflated broadband prices offered by telecommunications incumbents. CUWiN’s growth over the last decade promises continued improvement in the lives of citizens and the communities in which they live for years to come. As a CTC-VISTA, I feel honored to be a part of an organization that is doing so much good in communities around the globe.
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