My Linksys WRT54GL router

I use my Linksys WRT54GL router for little more than taking my laptop running Linux to my garden. Whenever I particularly confident I try to set up the wireless connection on my wife’s laptop. This invariably ends up in my shouting obscenities against Richmond, VA.

By the way, I remember that the Linksys WRT54GL router used to be shipped by fon.com by only $10, the cost of the router included. The company was desperately burning cash in order to reach something remotely similar to critical mass. Upgrading Fon’s router firmware with the original Linksys was a popular hack at some point, but not something I would have bothered with anyway.

A Venezuelan experiment about Long Distance Wifi has radically changed my perception of my humble router. Ermanno Pietrosemoli of EsLaRed-ULA managed to transmit audio and video at 65 kbps through 382 km!

Wow, the line of sight looks to connect the Andes to some highlands past los Llanos! Clearly this experiment has limited applicability in practicalterms but I hope that poorer countries find cheaper alternatives to the legacy wire networks like LD Wifi.