We are conducting an interest survey of existing and potential hotspot venues, please take a few minutes to take the survey!
Contents
What are they?
Hotspots are gathering places where people meet to work, learn, play and live. They are the centers of the Community and a point where people engage Community Network Services to interact with each other.
Where the person meets the network
The Hotspot provides people with a wireless or wired connection to the Community Network.
In some cases a Hotspot may have a local connection to the Internet.
Where the network meets the person
Community Wireless Hotspots provide a portal to NetworkServices, such as multi-media information about their local venue, and can pull information from nearby Hotspots and other places in the Community Network. This enables an organization, such as a small business, community center, social gathering place or even a residence, to publish information and participate in the Community Network.
Through awareness of a hotspot's physical location, users on a network can even see who else is near and even what other networks are near by from their Wireless enabled PDA, Laptop, Mobile computing kit or even phone.
Hotspots are everywhere
Hotspots can be setup by any person, group or organization who wishes to provide people with a way to connect to the Community Wireless Network, and/or produce their own information for members of the Community to interact.
How to setup a Hotspot
A hotspot can be any WiFi(tm) compatible WirelessAccessPoint attached to a PC running BCWLinux or modified to use the WifiDog Hotspot software (such as the Linksys WRT54GL or older versions of the Linksys WRT54G and WRT54GS).
Generally, you will need to:
Have a BC Wireless account, you can create one from here.
Setup your Hotspot (see the HotspotHowTo for details).
Add yourself to the hotspot database in WaveCaster.
For more information on setting up a Community Hotspot, see the HotspotHowTo page.
Technical Management
Hotspots are accountable to the NetworkManagementCenter. Technical standards are set forth in the CategoryHotspotTechnicalRequirements category.
