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These are cool and all, but here's a naive question. Where do these community networks connect to the internet at large? Wouldn't this violate some sort of ToS

These are cool and all, but here's a naive question. Where do these community networks connect to the internet at large? Wouldn't this violate some sort of ToS from the provider?

dsr_ 8y ago
Depends on who you're buying from. In general, home/consumer usage is cheaper, less reliable, and comes with those restrictions compared to a business use.
- JustSomeNobody 8y ago
  So, basically some small, rural township would buy the access then share or several individuals would pool their funds and do it?
  - __d 8y ago
    Yes. Either fibre or wireless link(s) to an upstream provider. Non-residential connections don't have the same sort of ToS that residential broadband does. The cost of those links (or link) is then shared by the community wireless organization. So typically, subscribers pay a small monthly fee to join the mesh, which covers the cost of Internet connectivity and any other shared resources in the community network (ie. rooftop space for a central node, etc).
nicoechaniz 8y ago
hi NicoEchániz here, project coordinator for the LibreRouter. There are many different realities regarding the connectivity from a community network to the rest of the Internet. In the case of AlterMundi - the organization steering LibreRouter - , the communities that are connected in our region in Argentina are registered as a national non-profit operator, we have our own ASN and public IP ranges and we do BGP peering with other networks in the region. So... no ToS violations.
- JustSomeNobody 8y ago
  Thank you very much for taking the time to explain that to me.
- jazb 8y ago
  I am very interesting being the mesh handle then special access nodes that the BGP session has with other providers? do you use eBGP? iBGP?
simplymath 8y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carterfone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carterfone In general, those ToS would likely be struck down under precedent. Additionally, it's bad news for an ISP to cut off their low-cost, ethical competition that will only help your cause. Source: I built the internet backbone for this: https://www.nycmesh.net/ https://www.nycmesh.net/. If your city is on this list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_exchange_point https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_exchange_point, you can buy data center internet like we did. It runs about $1,000/mo and can serve about as many people (by over-selling the bandwidth 20X as is standard in industry).

These are cool and all, but here's a naive question. Where do these community networks connect to the internet at large? Wouldn't this violate some sort of ToS from the provider?

dsr_ 8y ago

Depends on who you're buying from. In general, home/consumer usage is cheaper, less reliable, and comes with those restrictions compared to a business use.

JustSomeNobody 8y ago
So, basically some small, rural township would buy the access then share or several individuals would pool their funds and do it?
- __d 8y ago
  Yes. Either fibre or wireless link(s) to an upstream provider. Non-residential connections don't have the same sort of ToS that residential broadband does. The cost of those links (or link) is then shared by the community wireless organization. So typically, subscribers pay a small monthly fee to join the mesh, which covers the cost of Internet connectivity and any other shared resources in the community network (ie. rooftop space for a central node, etc).

nicoechaniz 8y ago

hi NicoEchániz here, project coordinator for the LibreRouter. There are many different realities regarding the connectivity from a community network to the rest of the Internet. In the case of AlterMundi - the organization steering LibreRouter - , the communities that are connected in our region in Argentina are registered as a national non-profit operator, we have our own ASN and public IP ranges and we do BGP peering with other networks in the region. So... no ToS violations.

JustSomeNobody 8y ago
Thank you very much for taking the time to explain that to me.
jazb 8y ago
I am very interesting being the mesh handle then special access nodes that the BGP session has with other providers? do you use eBGP? iBGP?

simplymath 8y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carterfone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carterfone In general, those ToS would likely be struck down under precedent. Additionally, it's bad news for an ISP to cut off their low-cost, ethical competition that will only help your cause. Source: I built the internet backbone for this: https://www.nycmesh.net/ https://www.nycmesh.net/. If your city is on this list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_exchange_point https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_exchange_point, you can buy data center internet like we did. It runs about $1,000/mo and can serve about as many people (by over-selling the bandwidth 20X as is standard in industry).