Water bottle WiFi in Mali

In the great tradition of DIY wireless comes another project underway in Mali. The project is investigating best practices for building small DIY antennas and router enclosures at low-cost to serve the Malian television and WiFi markets. Designs were taken from numerous sources and adapted to use materials readily available in Mali such as plastic water bottles (peep the "BottleNet" antenna at right), used motorbike valve stems, and window screen mesh. Goals included reducing cost and making assemblages simple enough to require little technical skill. For about $40 per antenna, the project could end up satisfying most of the needs of the WiFi market in Mali. Want to piggy-back off your neighbor's broadband? Start saving your bottles.

[Via Smart Mobs]

[Ian Howard @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

Actually, there are 3 models of antennas that we are manufacturing for our project, and if we drop the n-type connector we can manufacture these for about $2 per antenna. I am writing this article using the bottle show in this picture, it works great, though unfortunately birds really enjoy sitting on it and they shake the bottle!

[Philippines Barangay Wireless @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

keep it up!
projects like this should be continued.
We should be resourceful and recycle things up :)

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http://BarangayWireless.net
" who said internet is only for the city? "

[khoubaib @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

we provide pet preforms