Building Wireless Community Networks (Paperback)

- 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.

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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.

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