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Comment by znpy | Hacker News Reader

I think the EU initiative is better.

Volunteer-run infrastructure is fine, but you cannot rely on it. Can you really blame a volunteer if things break? No. They will hopefully fix it on they own time and dime, and that's good.

Volunteer-managed infrastructure is a courtesy. The fact that it's been reliable so far is no indicator of future reliability.

EU-driven initiative on the other hand supplies funds (15'000 euros, for proper hardware, maintenance and replacement parts) and uniformity: users in spain will have to go through the same procedures and configurations whether they are in italy, spain, germany, france or any other eu member state (does freifunk does the same?)

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I don't think it would've been very difficult to include volunteer networks in the database and allow users the option to fall back on them if an EU-funded network is not available (including a warning about potential eavesdropping on unencrypted communications).

> users in spain will have to go through the same procedures and configurations whether they are in italy, spain, germany, france or any other eu member state

"The same procedures", really?

Can you use a wifi hotspot anonymously in Italy? I mean completely without the need to authenticate or provide a mobile number to receive one-time SMS code...

I know for certain you can in Germany. Join the hotspot, tick a box to accept the T&Cs, off you go....

You should if the network is supposed to be anonymous. Though Spanish law, for example, AFAIK requires you to identify customers if you're acting as an ISP (which you are when you offer internet services) or you could be liable for illicit activity. Wonder how this works, since I assume the liability would fall under the public entity who provides the service, not the company installing it.

There have been projects like this in the past. At least in some parts of Europe, they worked just for the minimum mandated period at the minimum mandated speeds. And the equipment bought was marked up heavily.

And looking at the prices for enterprise grade WiFi these days... 15K EUR goes very little.

For this purpose unifi or similar is more than adequate, each hotspot is presumably just one or two APs.

I can't disclose many details, but at the company I work at they did some Wifi4EU installs, and use Ubiquiti hardware, without noticeable reliability issues. Installs do have more APs usually, like for public buildings, libraries... But usually no more than ten. Can be handled with one UniFi Controller and a few APs, so no worries.

Can you blame anyone if "official" free WiFi breaks? I doubt it.

Yes? You can blame the government that is funding it with taxes. Thats a much clearer chain of blame and expectation of service.

I think they're only paying for install costs and not ongoing fees.

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