Affordable mobile communication

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scy

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A local school is looking for an affordable campus mobile communication. The area of the school is about 8km(2). The teachers want to communicate with each other for free via voice while roaming around the campus and residents.

What infrastructure could solve this problem? Phones suitable for outdoor use will be best.
Where can I find Senao wireless phones in SA?
 
A proper campus DECT solution is probably not going to be that cheap. If you go wifi phones it's even more expensive. You can look at the Polycom/Kirk DECT product range. You definitely want to get a knowledgeable installer involved to help you with a site survey and deciding on placement. What PBX will you be connecting this to?
 
Hi Scy,

i agree with Morkhans and a DECT solution would be ideal. the Polycom/Kirk stuff is great but still quite expensive.

We have recently been supplying a product called I-Serve and used it in many large environments, its very well priced and has wireless repeaters available.

here is a Youtube Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVI8SXMOB9o

Good Luck

Regards,

BitCo
 
Much work has been done with this in the Village Telco www.villagetelco.org using a device called the 'Mesh Potato' These devices are positioned to create a Wi-Fi mesh and both voice and data can be distributed across the mesh. Each 'Mesh Potato' can have a standard cheap analogue phone connected to it via the potato's inbuilt ATA, for a mobile application, any Wi-Fi smart phone will be able to connect to the mesh, smart phone have become available at the sub R600 mark already. The mesh can also be hooked up to a VoIP provider allowing cheap off mesh calls. This solution is completely open source and is driven by some dedicated volunteers across the world, our home is at http://groups.google.com/group/village-telco-dev/

Viva Open Source !!!!
 
paulcolmer said:
Much work has been done with this in the Village Telco www.villagetelco.org using a device called the 'Mesh Potato' These devices are positioned to create a Wi-Fi mesh and both voice and data can be distributed across the mesh. Each 'Mesh Potato' can have a standard cheap analogue phone connected to it via the potato's inbuilt ATA, for a mobile application, any Wi-Fi smart phone will be able to connect to the mesh, smart phone have become available at the sub R600 mark already. The mesh can also be hooked up to a VoIP provider allowing cheap off mesh calls. This solution is completely open source and is driven by some dedicated volunteers across the world, our home is at http://groups.google.com/group/village-telco-dev/

Viva Open Source !!!!
Click to expand...

Interesting concept. Are there any documented examples of this running in SA? I'd imagine there would be uses for this in informal settlements.
 
Thanks Paul! There are quite a few good examples in South Africa but not as well documented as they should be. Here are a few:
Wayne Abroue runs the Kransmesh in Kranshoek just outside of Plettenberg Bay - http://villagetelco.org/deployments/wayne-abroue-south-africa/ The University of the Western Cape is helping communities in the Eastern Cape near Mdumbe build a solar-powered rural Village Telco. In Scarborough, David Carman has been running a wireless mesh network for years, mostly now driven by Mesh Potatoes. There are also plenty of small deployments of around 5-10 units where people have used them on industrial estates, farms, or holiday cottages.

We're a few months away from launching our second generation Mesh Potato which will be more powerful (MIPS 24K processor 400 MHz w/ 8/64 flash/ram) yet lower power consumption (~1.5W) and cheaper (~R400-700 depending on configuration). It will also have a usb port and exposed GPIOs for those who would like to extend its functionality with 3G modems or Arduinos etc. All Open Source. End of shameless self-promotion. :)
 
The technology lends itself very well to informal settlements and rural areas with little or no infrastructure. In fact it has been designed for the 'rugged' African environment, its not too fussy about stable power ( can be done solar too), its weatherproof, and can even be programmed via an analogue phone using DTMF through an IVR as laptops are sometime rare in rural areas.

http://villagetelco.org/deployments/wayne-abroue-south-africa/ http://villagetelco.org/deployments/bokaap/

There are many documented installations in SA ill have to dig them out, the above examples will also show you how we create 'Super nodes' using Nano Stations flashed with Mesh Potato firmware.

Please feel free to join the development group, all are welcome !
 
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SNAP !

Nothing wrong with shameless self-promotion Steve ! 'Build it and they will come' :)
 
I'm interested in the Village telco. I'll do some research on it.
Where can I find these Mesh-Potatoes in SA?
Can't I just buy a TP-Link CPE and install firmware and have a mesh-potato?
 
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Hi There
+1 for dect but I like the mesh-potatoes idea as well.

I am certainly going to do some more reading on it thanks all for the links

Regards

Tim
 
scy said:
I'm interested in the Village telco. I'll do some research on it.
Where can I find these Mesh-Potatoes in SA?
Can't I just buy a TP-Link CPE and install firmware and have a mesh-potato?
Click to expand...

TP-Link WR703n will work ok but you then loose the ATA and ability to put it outside .
 
So where do I get these mesh-potatoes?
 
morkhans said:
The Ubnt NanoStation 2's looked to me like the best of the lot to flash as they are built for outdoors. Scoop sell them.
Click to expand...

Nano station has 1 X 10/100 BASE-TX (Cat. 5, RJ-45) Ethernet Interface, I need something with the ATA interface.
 
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