Community Wi-Fi groups grow across SA

Community driven wireless user groups are growing around SA, creating free bandwidth rich envrionments for file sharing, gaming and the like

Wireless User Groups (WUGs) are an option for those wishing to participate in a community network experience, and are steadily growing in popularity around South Africa. Xarion Comoretto, Chairman of the Johannesburg Area WUG (JAWUG) management committee, has been involved with the network from its infant stages, and is the Web administrator for Wug.za.net

The portal has recently been re-launched, with countless hours devoted to developing the site and its tools which help new users ascertain if they are able to connect to the network. We caught up with Comoretto to find out about the latest WUG developments.

Connecting to the WUG

The network operates on a system of Wi-Fi connectivity nodes. There are three main types of node, the basic node is most common, typically an individual user. These nodes will generally connect to a transit node, which in turn connects to a backbone node.

“Wi-Fi relies heavily on Line of Sight (LOS). If there is something in the way it is going to influence the signal quality. Before any user purchases hardware they need to do a line of sight check,” explained Comoretto. A Google maps plugin also assists by listing all of the functioning nodes and high sights on the network.

“The WUG plotter doesn’t take into account any man-made structures and foliage so we usually ask users to post a panoramic view from their roof. This helps to see LOS to the high-site [and] if there is a possibility to connect to other nodes,” said Comoretto.

WUGs around SA

There are numerous WUG groups around South Africa, Comoretto explained: “All the WUGs are under the same umbrella, all follow the same code of conduct, and all have the same activities, so I’d say all WUG areas are affiliated with each other. Official WUGs are listed on the website.”

“At the moment JAWUG, PTAWUG [Pretoria] and PCN [Potchefstroom] are connected directly over the airwaves. PEWUG [Port Elizabeth], DWC [Durban] and CTWUG [Cape Town] are connected via ADSL VPNs which are only used for gaming and core services such as DNS.”

Community

There are over 300 users operating on the JAWUG network. “It’s hard to keep track of the actual amount of active users – they come and go and life takes over from time to time, but eventually they come back,” said Comoretto.

“The node expansion is really up to the users. The core team helps newcomers to setup and configure high-sites. Some of the core members help directly in the installation of the sites if assistance is needed,” he explained.

“All major high-sites are built from second hand PCs, the majority of which are Pentium 3 and Pentium 4. Some links do 200GB a day easily. My personal link does around 30 to 40GB a day.”

Non Profit Organisation

JAWUG is a formal NPO, and is in the process of registering with SARS. This will help the community meet its objectives, and allows it to act as a legal entity responsible for shared community equipment. Membership costs R360 per annum, with a discount for students. The money goes towards upgrading the network and maintenance.

“I would say that from 95% [of the users, the fee] has been received well. It’s not really likely to increase – it might even decrease – it was just the initial outlay we needed to do things such as creating the NPO and obtaining the necessary licensing from ICASA,” said Comoretto.

Community contribution

The system is maintained by community members who dedicate their personal time to keeping it operational. “There are about 15 to 20 core members maintaining the ‘IP layer’ as well as hardware. Tasks are delegated and each person – not necessarily a core member – is responsible for their own high-site or area,” explained Comoretto.

“The greatest contribution the members can give the network is to organise a well situated high-site. Very often high-site owners connect themselves to the network and it becomes a win-win situation. Hardware is always welcome as a donation.”

Wug.za.net is currently looking for a web host sponsor that would provide a Wi-Fi link to the server hosting wug.za.net, making the site accessible from the Internet as well as the WUG networks.

Wireless User Group discussion