About Wi-Fi as a Connectivity Solution

The first infrastructure challenge is connecting the community to the Internet. The most cost-effective approach to rural connectivity is to build out from the existing broadband connectivity now available in most cities of the Dominican Republic. The tendency of most rural people to live relatively close to urban centers, the traditional clustering of groups of villages, and the short distances involved are a good fit with the wireless network technology known as Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi is very low in cost, reliable, and relatively easy to install and maintain. It is effective at distances over 10 km, so long as line-of-sight is available, and a new variant called Wi-Max goes several times as far.

Components of the Los Martinez repeater

Soekris communications computer running Monowall FreeBSD

Senao long distance 802.11b card

Omnidirectional Antenna

Lightning Protector

Pigtail cable

50 W Kyocera solar panel

Solar PWM controller

38 Ah gel cell battery

The Installation at Telecable Ocoa

Charger, Gel Battery, Inverter

DSL Modem

WellGate VoIP Gateway

Backup Analog Netmodem

Ethernet Switch with voltage reducer