Its simplest form is with a single antenna, which works on WiFi (802.11b) standards anywhere in the world, and provides shared access to the PC, but also looks for other Meshbox installations in the neighbourhood. There's a second option; an additional, long-range antenna, which you can mount on the roof of your house, to pick up signals from other Meshboxes further away - across the village, perhaps.

What is really neat this that you can combine several broadband feeds (albeit at a 10% increase in wireless load).

There's a pioneer network at Kingsbridge in Devon, and there are trial sites in Macedonia, India, USA, the Netherlands, and of course, in several UK counties.

And the software is open source!
Internet Connectivity Open Public Networks 4:19:10 PM  comment []      

"These days, Pioneer Courthouse Square is but one of some 140 public spots across Portland with free Internet access using a high-speed wireless technology known as Wi-Fi. The network of such Wi-Fi "hot spots" throughout the city was developed by Personal Telco, a grass-roots, nonprofit group devoted to blanketing the city with free access points."

I've started a new category dedicated to Open Public Networks.

Open Public Networks 10:24:03 PM  comment []