Open-Mesh.com Roadmap
We want to share our plans for the coming weeks and months so you can know where Open-Mesh.com is headed. Our goal is to provide the most solid, flexible, open solution for low-cost WiFi mesh networking available.
Dashboard / Firmware:
- Radius support for user authentication/billing. Open-Mesh routers will soon fully support radius via the CoovaChilli Captive Portal as an option to the current "open" captive portal now being used. This will allow you to use any radius-based Hotspot service that you'd like to handle billing, splash page management, bandwidth control, and user authentication/billing. We'll even have most settings preloaded for WiFi-CPA users. Or, if you'd like, you can run your own radius server and keep everything in house. Switching will be easy and just involve entering your radius server options into the "edit network" page on open-mesh.com. We also hope to soon support Sputnik (which is not radius based) as well.
- Multiple networks under a single account. This will let you manage any number of networks using a single login/password. You will also be able to give to local administrators a login/password for each network individually, and of course our read-only reports will continue to be open.
- Join network. Great for community wireless: This option will let users join (under admin control) existing networks. Users can purchase their own router and join your network themselves. Admins will be able to allow or reject new members. This reduces the burden on admins and lets true "grass roots" networks flourish.
- User management. Even if if you don't want to use the new Radius option to manage users, you'll still be able to get lists of your top users and have the ability to blacklist abusers. You'll be able to see usage over time and correlate that usage to your overall network usage to easily spot heavy users and campers on your networks and take appropriate action. We will even optionally send you alerts based upon the appearance of network abusers and let you set thresholds to automatically block them in real-time.
- Many other improvements. Delete network, move node to a different account/network, improved GUI (better organization, "eye-candy", etc.), "hidden" nodes that will not show up on public maps, many new graphs and charts to help you see and manage your network efficiently.
- Open Source management. Open-Mesh.com is supporting open-source mesh management solutions. We are contributing to a project being done at UNC Chapel Hill (http://meshnet.googlecode.com) to create a truly open-source management server for RO.B.IN mesh networks. It will automatically migrate your open-mesh networks to your own server without needing to re-enter data.
Hardware and Accessories
- Outdoor nodes. We hope to soon offer a sub $80 outdoor node, preflashed with RO.B.IN firmware, including POE and high-gain antenna. Watch this space! In the meantime, users have reported converting the Accton into an outdoor node using low-cost enclosures, D-Link Power over ethernet adapters DWL-P200 and a DC Power Plug Converter, 2.1mm to 2.5mm - Cat# DCA-2 available for $1.50.
- Security cover. Our security cover will let you install our Accton routers into apartments and hotels where theft might be an issue. These covers will not only secure the nodes to the wall, but will hide the router (and its blinking lights) and power supply in a mounting that blends into the wall and becomes virtually invisible.