A Spanish engineer independently connected his city to the internet ... and then the whole region

    The history of the development of Guifi - the largest mesh network in the world




    The town of Gurb (Gurb) is located 75 kilometers north of Barcelona. This is a small town, which in Spain would call pueblo. The population is only 2500 people. There are many such towns in the country, but this one stands out from a number of similar ones. The fact is that the project was born here Guifi.net . This project is an important experiment in the field of telecommunications. It is a public Mesh-network, which has long gone beyond one settlement. Now it is the largest network of this type in the world.

    The project started 12 years ago, and now the Guifi network connects tens of thousands of people in hundreds of different locations. Usually, telecommunications companies centrally connect users to the Internet, but in Gurb and other cities project participants solved this problem on their own. However, the Guifi network does not depend on the government or commercial companies. The main idea of ​​the project is that the participants themselves should determine when, where and how to communicate. And users are very happy with how everything works.

    Guifi exists because one of the residents of the town of Gurb is tired of waiting for the local telecommunications giant Telefonica to carry the Internet to this town. Initially, Ramon Roca, a local engineer, wanted to solve the problem only for himself. But then he decided to help the neighbors. Roca is an Oracle employee. 12 years ago, he went to California for a business trip and brought several Linksys WiFi routers from the USA. Routers could be configured - their flexibility in setting is well known to specialists and ordinary users. In particular, the system can be configured in such a way that routers form a mesh network, users of which can easily exchange data. New users can also connect to this network. If you have an internet connection, all participants get access to the global network.

    Guifi started in 2004 with a single Wi-Fi cell. Now there are more than 30,000 such cells in the network, the network is mixed - here we have wireless communication, and optical fiber, and other types of connections. In the near future, several thousand more users are planning to join the network. Spent on the project a lot of effort. But Roca and his colleagues did not give up and did not stop even in difficult moments, continuing to develop Guifi.

    “What they have created is extraordinary,” says Sascha Meinrath, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, an open Internet activist, and X-LAB executive . In his opinion, in the United States such an initiative would have been impossible - the fact is that in this country most people need Comcast or Verizon or other telecommunication companies.

    The central part of Guifi is a set of rules for users. They are very few:
    • You can freely use the network for any purpose, as long as you do not harm the network itself, do not violate the rights of other users, or do not violate the principles of neutrality, which allows content and services to work without intentional problems.
    • You have the right to study the network and its components, you can share your knowledge.
    • You have the right to offer content and services to the network on your own terms;
    • You have the right to join the network, and the obligation to adhere to these principles.


    Principles work fine. They are the basis, the basis for interaction between individual network users and between small Internet service providers who also decide to join Guifi. All this is very far from the moment when Roca just wanted to connect to the Internet.

    The main advantages of the mesh network are the following :
    - “Intelligence” of the network
    It is one of the key features of a wireless mesh network. “Intelligence” means that when connected, each point automatically receives information about all other access points in the network and “finds out” its role. This behavior eliminates the need for continuous administration and facilitates rapid deployment.
    - Self-healing and self-adaptation
    As can be understood from the previous paragraph - as soon as the network is turned on and begins to function, each device automatically determines the state of its neighbors and its role in the overall topology. Therefore, when one of the nodes fails, the network is able to redirect data — that is, to redefine routes automatically.
    - Fast and low-cost deployment.
    Deploying a Mesh network does not require expensive infrastructure and cabling. In addition, due to self-healing and self-adapting abilities, this network is economical to operate.

    The first node of the network earned when Roka installed a router with a directional antenna on the highest building of the town. It was the only networked building in the region. Using a directional antenna, the router connected the house of an engineer 6 kilometers from the building to the Internet.

    Soon the neighbors began to ask about the connection to the Internet. And then neighbors neighbors, acquaintances and colleagues. Everyone could connect - access was free, it was necessary only to purchase a router. Some nodes have been turned into a Super Node. The network gradually expanded, there were new points of connection to the Internet, and connections were added using fiber. The Guifi network has been growing in size every day for many years.



    As the network grows, an understanding emerges that the usual connection of new nodes is good, but the stability of the entire network is required. It was another serious goal, a task that was accomplished.

    Also, in order to organize the work of the network, the efforts of a couple or three people were not enough. All new volunteers joined the original team. In the end, the project team decided to found a non-profit organization to make the network official. So there was the Guifi.net Foundation. It employs a small team, both volunteers and staff members. The founder, Ramon Roca does not receive money for his work. The organization manages the development of the network, ensuring that everything works stably and without problems.

    Somewhat unexpectedly for the founders, the state also joined the project. Then, European Union, which began to allocate small grants for the development of the project, paid attention to Guifi. The total amount of funds received is 1 million euros. This money is required for the development of network infrastructure, which has already become very large. Not so long ago, the organization began to connect users for money. Moreover, the Guifi Foundation does not charge fees on its own; instead, partners do it - small providers, the number of which has already reached 20. Providers pay the organization itself for a number of services, including the right to use the Guifi network infrastructure. In addition, these same companies provide the connection of various localities - both over a wireless network and using optical fiber. Providers take on the role and technical support. Users pay very little money for this - from 18 to 35 euros per gigabit fiber optic connection. There is a much cheaper option with WiFi connection.

    The founder of the project says that as the network expanded, it became clear that it was necessary to attract people who were far from technology. They are helped by volunteers, explaining what Guifi is and what this project offers to its participants. Volunteers, most often - are already connected to Guifi users who tell their neighbors about the project. The administrations of some localities provide financial support to the initiative, seeking to develop network infrastructure in their region. Almost all the money goes to network equipment providers and network services.



    The Guifi.net Foundation is still responsible for network resilience. The organization establishes links between the administration of settlements and providers, between providers and users, between different settlements. Now planning has become a complex multi-step process, since the network itself has increased significantly in scale.

    Doom spends many hours every day working on a project. Sometimes he returns home after midnight. But the main project management role still belongs to the Guifi members. Everyone is free to decide for himself what and when to do, how to use the network, to help or not to develop infrastructure. The main condition for all participants is the observance of the principles of work that were indicated above. Some users who had previously helped the development of the network for free became full-time employees. They are responsible for the performance of network segments, organizational work and planning. Now the Guifi.net Foundation is gradually abandoning wireless communications, moving to a more reliable and fast fiber optic connection. The fact is that WiFi infrastructure is inexpensive for an organization, but it takes a lot of time to maintain such a network.

    How does Guifi survive in the modern world of corporations, centralized networks and services? Compared to what is offered by large telecommunications companies, Guifi is still a small project. Many participants believe that openness and decentralization of the network are its main advantages. There is even confidence that the project can become an alternative to services and services offered by large telecommunication companies. Only open equipment works in the network infrastructure, Guifi.net Foundation tries to avoid using proprietary technologies.

    Whatever it was, but Guifi continues to evolve and expand. More and more Spaniards hear about the project and strive to become its participants. It may well be that after a while the decentralized Guifi network will cover a significant part of the country, and then other countries. Now Guifi can offer residents of remote communities much more than large companies, including Telefonica, Orange, Vodafone and others.

    Also popular now: