History

 

WSCICC was incorporated in California as a Cooperative Corporation in January of 2003.  For a year or so prior to that time it operated casually with a few interested parties.  WSCICC emerged from No-Cat which was created by a group of interested techies with encouragement from O’Reilly Associates in whose facilities it met for a time.  Much of the concept is described in “Building Wireless Community Networks”, by Rob Flickenger which was published by O’Reilly.  Rob was a driver in the NoCat effort and was very helpful in keeping NoCat functioning in Sonoma County.  Unfortunately, Rob and other drivers in NoCat moved away and the NoCat organization remains in name only.  Some NoCat software was developed to manage community networking, but it was never perfected and is not used by WSCICC.

 

During NoCat’s existence, there was a desire on the part of NoCat technical folks in western Sonoma County to demonstrate a practical community network and move from dial-up internet (all that was available) to higher speed links.  The first link was an enhanced DSL connection from the Victorian Christmas Tree Ranch (VT) to a home on Tilton Road.  The Tilton Road owner was interested in getting a few others connected and, over time, the network expanded. 

 

The first major relay point was to a residence on Goldridge Road (GR).  This point connected to a residence at the intersection of Cherry Ridge and Grandview (GV) which offered a broad view north toward Graton.  GR also connected to a relay point on Dusty Lane which served a number of members. 

 

Water towers on Thorn Road provided the next major relay point.  WSCICC then leased a high speed link from Thorn to Silver Crest Towers in Santa Rosa from Access Port.  This line was difficult to bring up but success was achieved in mid-2007.  Thorn has provided a link for a large group of members on Cahill Road among others.

 

Connecting the Thorn Road location into the northern part of the WSCICC network was the next major challenge.  We were fortunate enough to gain access to a residence high on Goldridge (TGR).  From TGR we can see all our major relay points and VT which, for the first time, gave us reliable connections throughout our network.

 

While the WSCICC network was evolving, equipment was a continuing problem.  Finding adequate antennas, reliable radios, good connectors, etc., was a frequent challenge.  Bad weather often brought problems.  With time WSCICC has found better equipment and network reliability has increased greatly.

 

Network support is still a major issue.  The few technical folks who were key to WSCICC’s creation along with a couple of others remain as the technical backbone and support arm of WSCICC.  Expanding the support corps will be important to maintain WSCICC. 

 

Competition from commercial companies like Comcast, Sonic, and others has had some impact on WSCICC as a few members have joined with them where connections were possible.  Regardless, in late 2007 the membership of WSCICC was over 50.  WSCICC is not interested in competing with commercial companies and does not actively solicit members.  WSCICC prefers to add members who have no other means of getting high-speed internet connections and are willing to take a role in maintaining the WSCICC Coop.