Low-cost WiFi solutions

Recently read a blog about home-brew outdoor WiFi by way of the PLUG mailing lists and Migs Paraz's blog post.

We have a somewhat similar project at PhilRice: Low-cost WiFi connectivity for Pinoy farmers, in partnership with the University of Southern Mindanao (USM), Preginet (ASTI-DOST), AFRDIS (DA), and DA BPRE.

The USM team fabricates low-cost antennas from common household materials such as pots and pans for use on off-the-shelf indoor WiFi equipment (Cisco, D-Link, Orinoco). The low-power antennas can be used as access points and bridges for last-mile broadband connectivity.

We have successfully deployed such configurations in our network clusters in Isabela, Nueva Ecija, Los Baños, Agusan del Norte and North Cotabato.

Soon, we will be also working with ASTI and NTT (of Japan) on WIPAS, a fixed wireless access solution using the 26-GHz range and capable of throughput up to 40 Mbits/second.