Twelve-volt Telephony

EComm 2008Brian Capouch

Saint Joseph's Collegewww.saintjoe.edu/~brianc/ecomm

www.oldmedaryville.org

My Scene

Heart of the Heart of the Country

● Lifetime resident of NW Indiana● “In God We Trust” on our license plates● Corn Belt

Saint Joseph's College

● On the Internet since 1988● Open Source● VoIP (Asterisk)● Embedded Linux (openWRT)

Peoples Wireless

● Wireless ISP since 2002● 16 POPs● Approx 1500 square miles

– Very low population density● ~40 Customers● Almost 100% Open Source infrastructure

Owned by 7 old houses

● Collectively 1100 years old● All but one were empty● Oldest built in 1853● Newest built in 1892● All were/are “at risk”● All have historical value

Save Old Houses

The spiral of old house death:

Mother and Father pass on

“Not worth fixing”“Not worth selling”

Distressed renters

Abandonment

Vandalism

Destruction

Fight Back

First, Connect It

Then Protect It

Keep your eye on the future

The Bandwidth Race(country version)

Dear Energy

Fiber v. Wireless

Moving Bits is Cheap

No Grid Required

Self Control

Small is Beautiful

An eComm 2008 presentation –

http://eCommMedia.com for more