Meraki is in the news again, this time for its partnerships with local cafes to expand Free the Net coverage throughout the city:
My tests indicate nodes only take 2 watts, but otherwise the reporter has his facts straight. Ask your favorite caffeine-monger to complete this form to add Meraki to the menu. Every node added will strengthen the mesh and bring closer the goal of ubiquitous free WiFi for all San Franciscans.
For the past several months, Meraki has offered to send free wireless mesh routers to anyone who's within range of the mesh and willing to slap one of the devices in their window or on their roof.
Meraki pays for the connection to the Internet, and you pay for the paltry 3 watts of power that the router consumes. A small price to pay to help turn SF into a place where you can stroll around and freely access the Internet wherever you are, right?
Meraki's latest bid to expand the size of their mesh is a promotion aimed at the city's coffee houses, many of which now pay for Internet access to keep their latte drinkers online and, presumably, poised to order refills.
In exchange for putting a Meraki router into their premises, SF cafes get to dump their Internet access bill, quit worrying about maintaining their networks, and benefit from some free advertising in the little gray bar that appears atop Web pages served through the Meraki network.
My tests indicate nodes only take 2 watts, but otherwise the reporter has his facts straight. Ask your favorite caffeine-monger to complete this form to add Meraki to the menu. Every node added will strengthen the mesh and bring closer the goal of ubiquitous free WiFi for all San Franciscans.
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