6 Jun
2019
6 Jun
'19
5:49 p.m.
Short version:
If we make a mesh with 5 routers running LibreMesh, and each router has
an internet connection, and a crowd of people gather at one node and all
use the WiFi simultaneously for internet communication, will LibreMesh
effectively load balance, thus making full use of all 5 internet
connections?
Long version:
During the celebration of Inti Raymi in the sierra, about 5000 people
come to visit a town that has a population of about 800 during the rest
of the year. That community is in a parroquia that includes 6
communities in total. This year, in the town that hosts the Inti Raymi
celebration, they want to offer internet via WiFi to the visitors (30
minutes free, then pay if they want more). So, instead of signing a
3-year contract for a fiber optic connection (when we only want 2 weeks
of higher-capacity connectivity), or contracting a DSL line with no
contract but slower speeds, it occurred to me to bring all the
connections in the parroquia to the Inti Raymi celebration, and let load
balancing do its magic.
Question: How can LibreMesh make this work?
Proposal:
At each internet connection, place a LIbreMesh router, connect that to
an antenna/radio that links to the celebration center. At the
celebration center, bring all those connections to another router with
LibreMesh. In other words (LM = LibreMesh router:
internet A -- LM --link via LHG5--\
internet B -- LM --link via LHG5---\___omnidirectional antenna/radio
internet C -- LM --link via LHG5---/ or multiple LHG5
internet D -- LM --link via LHG5--/ |
... |
... LibreMesh router at celebration site
Then from that LibreMesh router at the celebration site, we would build
out the celebration network of WiFi for 5000 people. Maybe with
LibreMesh-ed WiTek R1 routers, maybe Unifi, maybe wAP. The advantage of
the Unifi or wAP is that each router can handle more clients than a
WiTek R1, and there are stable captive portal and ticket softwares for
those systems, and Pirania isn't yet ready to do this in LibreMesh.