For certain situations the Meraki network model is considerably less expensive than other solutions.

Meraki doesn’t appear to be pursuing an 802.11n version, which is unfortunate, since MIMO penetration into buildings is better than 802.11g. Recent tests show a very real advantage to 802.11 draft n units already in production, especially with certain chipsets/radios.

Is there an obligation by all players to wait years for a political process in which decisions don’t keep pace with available technology? Hundreds of existing transmitters using 802.11b/g can probably be found within many urban areas in each square mile. These will already provide interference to municipal projects if everyone insists on using 2.4-2.5 GHz.

Firstly, The Meraki Minis are being given to some households in Mountain View CA as indoor repeaters by Google, “Google distributed the devices to businesses and apartment complexes in Mountain View that were having trouble connecting to the city’s free wireless system.” (from Adam Lashinsky’s http://money.cnn.com/2007/03/26/technology/pluggedin_lashinsky_google.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2007032712) That is the primary reason, IMHO, for Google’s investment, repeat the signal indoors, cheaply. Put a high gain patch antenna on them if you wish and stick it in a window.

Secondly, the 60mw output and 2 dbi antennas allow them to interfere even less to the [effective] 4W output from the Tropos nodes

Thirdly, who are these networks for? If they are for local city management and emergency response then use the 4.9GHz band and avoid the interference, if it is for business access in offices then use a Meraki to repeat the signal into the office, if it is for outdoor business then use 5ghz, and finally if it is for Net Equality or public access, well that is where these excel.

Here in San Francisco, we are tired of waiting for the other shoe to drop. I believe that the http://sf.meraki.net project is working 100% better than the STILL nonexistent free San Francisco Municipal WLAN.

While you’re right that not all the needed pieces don’t come with the basic $49 Meraki Mini, the device does support POE. You just need to buy an adapter like this:
http://www.mini-box.com/s.nl/sc.8/.f?search=18V+PoE

Jason wrote, “There is no access to the configs of particular nodes, its all done through a web interface.”

Jason, you might try sshing into a Meraki Mini node and then use vi to edit the /storage/config file.

Craig, are there any CPE devices that support multiple SSIDs and VLANs that you think are currently available at a reasonable price for use in, for example, large multi-dwelling units in conjunction with streetlight based municipal wifi nodes? Not even Cisco 1100s and 1200s support those capacities when they are running IOS and acting as repeaters last time I checked. Do you know if that is still the case?

I don’t know much about the nuts and bolts of these units as it seems to be kept behind lock and key, but the company has been very nice to talk to and willing to answer all of our questions.

We like the product for smaller deployments. Meraki recommends a separate Internet connection for every 10 nodes. This doesn’t seem practical when looking at deploying large scale networks.

I don’t have DSL or a T-1, so that limits my ability to share my network. I have broadband cable and would need the cable provider to bless the use of that bandwidth.

Presently the nodes are only able to be secured using WEP. WEP is not advised to use on a networks where you are worried about sensitive information.

But some would argue free Public wireless needs not be secure?

What I have done, to validate the use of inexpensive wireless Meraki mesh nodes is, connect one of the nodes to my SOHO wireless router switch port and discovered it does act as a separate WLAN for guest to connect to. The nodes get a dynamic address from the Meraki DHCP server that is reached through my broadband cable connection.

The other three nodes are plugged into an outlet in their house and act as hops.

The SOHO router is secure using WPA2 using a Preshared Key (PSK) . I personally connect to that SSID when surfing the web. The Meraki Mesh is open and free for those with inquiring minds.

These nodes may also serve a purpose in my neighborhood for such things, as a simple “Community Watch Groups”, i.e Citizen Watch. I haven’t pursued that yet…

If a few of my neighbors had a node using some “approved provider” , we could use them to watch the streets with strategically placed IP cameras throughout the neighborhood.

It would serve as a deterrent to crime and help us view general traffic and activities outdoors.

As Jim noted,

The show stopper in large scale is the single radio concept, in-ability to do VLANs and Multiple SSIDs, and something I hope will come available is Power over Ethernet (POE) it doesn’t exist on the indoor nodes.

You do have the ability to limit the amount of bandwidth available to end users. That is a plus. As well as block a user abusing the bandwidth.

If we had wireless VOIP phones, we could use it as a means of communication to our neighbors that had the nodes.

I trust these mesh nodes have a purpose and could be an inexpensive way to extend service to a community within reason.

The ROI is there. Now I just need some of the brilliance of people like Jim and Craig to convince the big time cable providers to buy into the concept.

They could bundle or give away the mesh service as an add on. At the same time advertise their services, and other business services through the mesh network ?

The limitation of outdoor WiFi access points is indoor coverage. Conversely, it’s strength is outdoor coverage. If cities play to the strength of WiFi, they’ll use it to reap mega-benefits from facilitating mobile workforce application development and asset management. This is one of the two strongest pillars of the business case. The second pillar is selling muni wireless access to businesses who will reap similar benefits for their workforce and asset management.

Once you satisfy the needs of the two groups that are willing and able to afford muni wireless access, swing back for the general consumer with free or low cost access if you can afford it. Or link these Meraki networks with the muni networks for some combination of cheap/free indoor coverage and cheap/free outdoor roaming coverage.