CoovaOM

[Transition Strategist (Greg)]

CoovaOM (in Open-Mesh) looks reasonably good,,, even if we have to
manually enter our own database information as a back-up it gives us
the QoS functions for free and paid access that we need. Also it gives
us relatively good monitoring of user traffic.

If it doesn't give us our own DataBase access that is all the more
reason to copy our user data down manually and transition over to our
own captive authentication portal asap. Shall I go ahead and pay for
it?

[seth]

I have been testing omcoova and have found some problems. I am in the middle
of some further tests and options using wired and wireless to connect with
the cheopo low power acctons. Very successful with the old open mess
dashboard but . Testing is continuing on weekend.

I have lotas cable and connectors.

I can never make Mondays though.

Cheers

Mark

[Tim Webster]

Hi

How does CoovaOM compare with the likes of Aerohive http://www.aerohive.com/?

My friend Chris has choosen Aerohive for technical school and international school deployment.

I appreciated the technical detail here, but I am new to the various mesh solutions.

Is there a good wiki comparison of the various Mesh technologies?

thx

-Tim

[michel memeteau]

On Sat, May 23, 2009 at 12:14 AM, Transition Strategist (Greg) <redreson...@gmail.com> wrote:

Shall I go ahead and pay for
it?

Hi I'm taking the conversation in the middle but why you would pay for a radius & coova/wifidog backend ?

what is so problematic about running your own backend server  ? reliability ? maintenance cost ?

sorry if this has been discussed before.  

Michel from France wireless

--
%<------------------------------------------------------->%
Michel memeteau
Blog 0.2 : http://memeteau.free.fr
Fixe :  0974763294 Mobile : 0624808051
VOIP | Visio: sip:freec...@ippi.fr
jabber/GTalk : xmpp:freec...@jabber.fr

[seth]

Mostly its finding technical people to do the work for free. 

 

Secondly we want to sell memberships/usage online cheap to recover costs and get expansion funds and we don't have the time to try to put together the free backend that does that. However if you were to set up a ready to go ISO, everybody all over the world would be real happy!!!!

 

Let us know if anybody can do!!!

 

Cheers

 

Mark from Vancouver (White Rock)

[michel memeteau]

Hi

On Mon, May 25, 2009 at 1:08 AM, seth <cald...@gmail.com> wrote:

Mostly its finding technical people to do the work for free. 

I know it's always difficult. What is the percentage of technical people in the FTN-CA community ?
 

 

Secondly we want to sell memberships/usage online cheap to recover costs and get expansion funds and we don't have the time to try to put together the free backend that does that. However if you were to set up a ready to go ISO, everybody all over the world would be real happy!!!!

I know Canada DSL is really different from From france so it's not easy to compare, but what are your costs ?

are they related to the fact that there is no ISP with an unlimited Data plan ? I mean unlimited DSL ?

Here just how the system works in France :

- We use DSL unlimited plan , usually 30 Euros/mo for 20 Mbits/s .
- Some hosting company host our wifidog servers and syslog ( french law etc..) for free.
- Anybody can set up a router in any country and use our Wifidog server for free, the database of users is shared.
- In some cases such as rural shared access, we create separated networks in the same wifidog servers with closed users list.
- Our server is even used by some WISP who don't want to handle the server complexity and only setup linux routers.
- We have a team of ten people who can repair if something goes wrong with the server.
- However we don't have traffic shaping and we did not upgrade to latest wifidog....



So apart from the DSL bandwidth cost I don't think our needs are so different ?

I've always thought that communities across the globe should share the auth backends.  


 

[seth]

Its not so much having the technical people its having technical people with the time to dedicate to doing the work. And the less technical people to go out and persuade folks to join up.

 

Our DSL is about 15 Euros a month for 2 mbs or so no limits in our province yet. Politicians and the governing body have been paid off to accept this as "broadband" and Big Telecom makes a fortune because of it. They are also allowed to block sharing of internet connections in their tariff - more crooked politicians. So to stay "legal" we need to provide our nodes with internet access.

 

If we want our network to grow like Meraki's has in San Francisco we need somehow to get at least some part time staff dedicted to monitor the network, and influence people in neighbourhoods to pick up nodes - unless we can find retired people without anything else to do.. For that we need at least some cash flow. The easiest way to do that is the paypal option on Coova OM. Its what 75 Euros or so annual and for the size of network we are hoping for, it  seems like a great deal.

 

There is a free paypal appendix to chillispot

 

http://www.howtoforge.com/wifi_hotspot_setup

 

http://wifipaypal.sourceforge.net/

 

but again needs technical people who want to volunteer. Works for a small network but not a one where nobody seems to have the time.

 

Cheers

 

Mark

[Transition Strategist (Greg)]

OK, so they were sneaky at open-mesh/coova. Actually it's going to be
$499 per/year for CoovaOM once you go above 10 APs (up to 100APs).
Problem. They claim open-source but now they're charging commercial
prices, for a product that is far from commercial grade.

On May 24, 11:57 pm, "seth" <caldom...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Its not so much having the technical people its having technical people with the time to dedicate to doing the work. And the less technical people to go out and persuade folks to join up.
>
> Our DSL is about 15 Euros a month for 2 mbs or so no limits in our province yet. Politicians and the governing body have been paid off to accept this as "broadband" and Big Telecom makes a fortune because of it. They are also allowed to block sharing of internet connections in their tariff - more crooked politicians. So to stay "legal" we need to provide our nodes with internet access.
>
> If we want our network to grow like Meraki's has in San Francisco we need somehow to get at least some part time staff dedicted to monitor the network, and influence people in neighbourhoods to pick up nodes - unless we can find retired people without anything else to do.. For that we need at least some cash flow. The easiest way to do that is the paypal option on Coova OM. Its what 75 Euros or so annual and for the size of network we are hoping for, it  seems like a great deal.
>
> There is a free paypal appendix to chillispot
>
> http://www.howtoforge.com/wifi_hotspot_setup
>
> http://wifipaypal.sourceforge.net/
>
> but again needs technical people who want to volunteer. Works for a small network but not a one where nobody seems to have the time.
>
> Cheers
>
> Mark
>
>   ----- Original Message -----
>   From: michel memeteau
>   To: freeth...@googlegroups.com
>   Sent: Sunday, May 24, 2009 11:26 PM
>   Subject: Re: CoovaOM
>
>   Hi

>   On Mon, May 25, 2009 at 1:08 AM, seth <caldom...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>     Mostly its finding technical people to do the work for free.  
>
>   I know it's always difficult. What is the percentage of technical people in the FTN-CA community ?
>
>     Secondly we want to sell memberships/usage online cheap to recover costs and get expansion funds and we don't have the time to try to put together the free backend that does that. However if you were to set up a ready to go ISO, everybody all over the world would be real happy!!!!
>
>   I know Canada DSL is really different from From france so it's not easy to compare, but what are your costs ?
>
>   are they related to the fact that there is no ISP with an unlimited Data plan ? I mean unlimited DSL ?
>
>   Here just how the system works in France :
>
>   - We use DSL unlimited plan , usually 30 Euros/mo for 20 Mbits/s .
>   - Some hosting company host our wifidog servers and syslog ( french law etc..) for free.
>   - Anybody can set up a router in any country and use our Wifidog server for free, the database of users is shared.
>   - In some cases such as rural shared access, we create separated networks in the same wifidog servers with closed users list.
>   - Our server is even used by some WISP who don't want to handle the server complexity and only setup linux routers.
>   - We have a team of ten people who can repair if something goes wrong with the server.
>   - However we don't have traffic shaping and we did not upgrade to latest wifidog....
>
>   So apart from the DSL bandwidth cost I don't think our needs are so different ?
>
>   I've always thought that communities across the globe should share the auth backends.  
>
>     Let us know if anybody can do!!!
>
>     Cheers
>
>     Mark from Vancouver (White Rock)
>       ----- Original Message -----
>       From: michel memeteau
>       To: freeth...@googlegroups.com
>       Sent: Saturday, May 23, 2009 8:33 AM
>       Subject: Re: CoovaOM
>

>       On Sat, May 23, 2009 at 12:14 AM, Transition Strategist (Greg) <redresonantea...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>         Shall I go ahead and pay for
>         it?
>
>       Hi I'm taking the conversation in the middle but why you would pay for a radius & coova/wifidog backend ?
>
>       what is so problematic about running your own backend server  ? reliability ? maintenance cost ?
>
>       sorry if this has been discussed before.  
>
>       Michel from France wireless
>
>       --
>       %<------------------------------------------------------->%
>       Michel memeteau
>       Blog 0.2 :http://memeteau.free.fr
>       Fixe :  0974763294 Mobile : 0624808051

>       VOIP | Visio: sip:freeche...@ippi.fr
>       jabber/GTalk : xmpp:freeche...@jabber.fr

>
>   --
>   %<------------------------------------------------------->%
>   Michel memeteau
>   Blog 0.2 :http://memeteau.free.fr
>   Fixe :  0974763294 Mobile : 0624808051

>   VOIP | Visio: sip:freeche...@ippi.fr
>   jabber/GTalk : xmpp:freeche...@jabber.fr

[Stephen Ronan]

Sorry, if I missed it in this thread, but where is
the clearest explanation of their pricing policy that you
have seen? My impression had been that it is free unless you
wish to charge users in which case they have a payment option,
but I see different, somewhat obscure, references to pricing on
that option. I see a reference to a $99 membership here:
https://om.coova.net/payment_membership
While there's a reference to a $49 membership here:
https://om.coova.net/payment_membership
But neither is clear what's included (e.g., how many nodes can be
part of the network(s))...
In the process of looking for the pricing info, I ran into this
documentation which may be of tangential interest (if not old hat):
http://www.open-mesh.com/activekb/questions/25/Using+your+own+RADIUS+server

- Stephen

[Transition Strategist (Greg)]

OK, but WifiGator is getting better reviews by the geeks with good
sized networks and has no limitations on how big your network is. It's
$20 a month. Much cheaper than CoovaOM' $499 up-front for the year.
It's totally compatible with open-mesh, and it also allows you to run
a broadcom network ontop of your open-mesh (ROBIN) network.

ROBIN forums (you have to be logged in to see the pricing)
http://robin.forumup.it/viewtopic.php?t=1604&mforum=robin . And yes,
it's up to $99 now (for up to 10 aps). I now officially don't trust
Open-Mesh at all. This was a run of the mill bait-and-switch, sneaky
little maneuver. Come with us for a nominal, open-source supporting
fee (up until 10 aps, then you'll find out it's $500 or the highway).

> documentation which may be of tangential interest (if not old hat):http://www.open-mesh.com/activekb/questions/25/Using+your+own+RADIUS+...
>
>  - Stephen

[Mike West]

"Open-mesh.com is not tied to Coova in any manner" ...hard to accept that when there is such a thing called CoovaOM and both businesses are promoting it and integrating systems.

If we are unable to run a radius server (or even better, walk down the street to VCN and ask if we can use theirs), we should seriously consider if VONIC really has the capacity to do anything (other than shit on each other on a public forum...which of course is always worthwhile - but not as fun without Joe).

On Mon, May 25, 2009 at 1:51 PM, Gerry Bakker <ge...@w3websites.com> wrote:

Open-mesh.com is not tied to Coova in any manner. Open-mesh has simply been
trying to help everyone work together on an agnostic level and I know that
Mike at Open-mesh is equally disappointed about the bait and switch done by
both CoovaOM and Wifi-CPA - both of them promised low prices and great
software yet both of them switched into bigger price models after they
smelled a bit of success and experiencing the enormity of the work and
responsibility that they had taken on. I am disappointed as well but on
balance I understand why CoovaOM or Wifi-CPA may have done what they did. It
does cost a lot of time and effort (money) to develop this stuff and wives
of these code writers would like to see some reward for all the time spent
away from the family. The real world conflict between their ideals and the
need to pay bills usually comes back to paying bills.

WifiGator is now promising great functionality at low price and from what I
see on their website is run by a bunch of nice guys who probably just live
and breath this stuff instead of balancing it with family, time off and
production. I bring this up because nice guys like that can also burn out by
trying to please everyone for free.

Open-mesh has provided a platform/dashboard that makes it easy for all of
these different companies to tie into. Don't blame open-mesh for the
activities of others. Open-mesh is not charging for their dashboard and
never will. That's why they are busily adding features and working to hand
it over to open-source. Open-mesh's only motivation - ever - was to bring
everyone together for the common good. Take a look at how all those other
hardware vendors are now coming out with cool open-mesh compatible hardware.
Open-mesh never wanted to be in the hardware business but they did it anyway
to get things rolling and prove its concept of open source firmware/hardware
and dashboard. Nothing that I can see would suggest anything negative about
what open-mesh is doing or their motives.

Personally, I would pay CoovaOM if I needed their features because I
recognize the work that goes into creating and maintaining this stuff. They
also provide the server services as part of the price which in server
hosting terms is a bargain as compared to doing it yourself. I understand
sticker shock and I too experienced it when I first learned about CoovaOM's
latest prices but when I add all things up - it is still a bargain for a
serious big network. Personally, I am looking at licensing CoovaOM for use
on my own servers - a big price - but then at least I would control
everything I need to operate independently in Canada. I haven’t spent the
money yet but I am seriously considering the CoovaOM server license for my
own use as a way of breaking away from my dependence on Meraki's dashboard -
that I fear will suddenly disappear some time later this year.

Gerry Bakker
Liveport.ca