Richmond Free WiFi Blog

We are thrilled to announce the release of our third gateway, located at the intersection of Sunburst and Greycliff Rds. in the West End. Special thanks to Eddie Klebau for generously donating a portion of his high-speed Internet connection. This gateway will eventually be moved outdoors to serve an even larger area. Additional Meraki units may be added as “nodes” to help expand the mesh network throughout the neighborhood.

The following image shows real-time specs of the node’s uptime:

Node name: I-O-SunburstRd_GreycliffRd-001

To access this node, simply point your wireless configuration to “RichmondFreeWireless”, open your web browser click the link on the splash page to continue and you’re on the web!

If you’d like to expand the network from this node or even set up a gateway with your connection to share throughout your neighborhood, feel free to check out our “help expand the network” page.

Here’s a pic of our first mesh unit on the Southside.  This unit is meshed to the gateway unit (where the Internet access comes from) and ultimately services the surrounding neighborhood.  The more units in proximity, the denser and larger the network grows!

Keep up the excellent work JT!

We are thrilled to announce the release of our fourth access location, located around the near the Lamplighter and Chippendale intersection on the Southside. Special thanks to JT Allison for generously donating a portion of his high-speed Internet connection.

FYI, this is JT’s SECOND Meraki unit and is our first mesh link, highlighting the expandability of our network by adding additional units without the need for additional Internet connections.

Additional Meraki units may be added as “nodes” to help expand the mesh network throughout the neighborhood.

The following image shows real-time specs of the node’s uptime:

Node name: O-O-Chippendale_Lamplighter-002

To access this node, simply point your wireless configuration to “RichmondFreeWireless”, open your web browser click the link on the splash page to continue and you’re on the web!

If you’d like to expand the network from this node or even set up a gateway with your connection to share throughout your neighborhood, feel free to check out our “help expand the network” page.

Greg Hershey, of Brick Weekly, wrote an awesome article about our project, along with an effective picture of the project’s founder (left) by Jay Paul. We not only had the pleasure of being written about but Greg was kind enough to join us for a tour of one of our gateways to get a true sense of our vision as well as seeing, in person, how effective our project and overall efforts really are.

I met Mohr and his son Matt on Saturday morning at the Science Museum. He wanted to show me the first step on the yellow brick road of his dream—city wide, free wireless internet. We walked a few short blocks and knocked on the door of a typical Fan apartment. We were greeted by Justin, a pioneer, the first link of what Mohr hopes will be a Richmond-wide net of volunteers. On Justin’s second-story porch, we gathered around a small box with an antenna on top. Not much bigger than a cigarette pack, this box is what makes Mohr’s dream technologically feasible, a Meraki radio unit.

Thanks for the plug, Greg. We greatly appreciate it!

Special thanks, as well, to John Sarvay of Buttermilk and Molasses fame, for plugging Greg’s story to the RVA blog masses!

We’ve recently posted pictures of the indoor gateway at Lamplighter and Chippendale to our website.  We like the neon effect, JT!