Meet the twin of the free software movement: the free network movement. A new breed of unlicensed wireless guerrilla networks are springing up in cities around the world. They represent a grass-roots effort to build a network of short-range, high-speed data access points which will allow wireless connectivity everywhere. Its wireless by the people for the people - and it could pose a real threat to the telecom giants and mobile operators.

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Based in the antiquated projectionists loft of the old Greenwich movie theatre, James Stevens is involved in a revolution to create a city-wide wireless network which offers free Internet access to anyone with a computer and a wireless networking card.

Greenwich is the epicentre of Consume, a project started by Stevens and his colleague Julian Priest to build a network to beat the worlds big telecommunications companies and launch the first broadband wireless internet in the UK. The network could also blow a gaping hole in the already leaky 3G business plans of mobile operators.

Consume is all about self-empowerment, says James Stevens. Its a strategy for the self-provision of networking services for the free exchange of data. Its a group of individuals coming together in an ad-hoc way and building a peer-to-peer network as a shared resource.

Consume is a WLAN project (Wireless Local Area Network) or wi-fi standing for wireless fidelity. It operates on a microwave wireless data networking standard called 802.11b which provides wireless access to the Internet via the unlicensed 2.4 GHz range of the radio spectrum (and possibly, in the future, via the unlicensed 5 GHz range).

The 802.11b standard offers wireless data connections up to 11 megabits per second (Mbps) 200 times faster than a PC modem and significantly faster than the 2 Mbps services being promised by nascent 3G operators in two to three years time.

802.11b embodies the very nature of a guerrilla-style operation in that it is a grass-roots effort which could pose a serious challenge to the grand designs of the big corporates in terms of broadband delivery, bluetooth wireless technology and next-generation cellular networks.

WLAN networks are already popular in the US. The big two are Guerrilla.net in Boston and Seattle Wireless, yet theres a whole host of smaller networks in local towns across the US offering profit-free broadband access to the community of users.

WLAN is guerrilla because, just as guerrillas fight by a resourceful use of small arms, so networks like Consume can be built with relatively cheap, off-the-shelf parts. Users require an antenna, a cable and a PCMCIA card in their laptop. Although this can cost around 400, DIY inventiveness knows no bounds. Stevens demonstrated how an empty Pringles chip can and a piece of compressed aluminium can make a directional antenna which he claims works better than one sold by Lucent Technologies for 150.

With the kit, users registers their node on the Consume network by entering their postcode details on the Consume website to get a latitude and longitude reading. Other users within a one-mile radius can then tune in to each other and share bandwidth. Consume has around 400 nodes registered, of which some 80 are active.

As well as the resourcefulness factor, the WLAN network is characterised by its potential to grow exponentially, in a viral-like fashion. Mao Zedongs famous dictum that the guerrilla swims like a fish in the sea of the people highlights the power a small player can derive from genuinely popular support. WLAN follows Metcalfes Law which states that the value of a network increases by the square of the number of people connected in it. In other words, the power of the network grows in tandem with its ubiquity. This multiplying pervasiveness is reminiscent of the way in which the sharing of music files grew on the original Napster.

The range of WLAN may be limited, yet some innovators are talking of a range extending to 30 miles. Moreover, as the number of nodes multiplies the network spreads. And spread it is set to do like wildfire! By 2006, according to a report published by international telecoms consultancy BWCS, there will be almost 17 million WLAN hotspot users worldwide. BWCS forecasts 114,220 wireless LAN hotspots worldwide by 2006, up from around 6,300 at the end of 2001.

The lack of secure network remains an issue with WLAN, although activists counter that security breaches are usually due to technical negligence on the part of users. A colleague of Stevens undertook a war cycling survey, a derivative form of war driving, a hacker term for driving around scanning for open wireless networks. He cycled around the Shoreditch area with a GPS system strapped to his handlebars and connected to a laptop computer fixed to the bike rack. He was able to pick up the positions of over 20 open wireless networks.

Stevens believes the telcos are under-estimating WLAN upstarts such as himself. The big corporates regard us as a bunch of little boys playing around, says Stevens, but a lot of us think this is the next wave of revolutionary technological networking, and our aim is to reach a critical mass. Others might agree. The securities brokerage company Nomura stated in March that it views 802.11b as a serious threat to the hopes of 3G mobile operators to make money out of wireless data services.

If Stevens has his way, the spread of WLAN may expose the conventional telecom and mobile companies as a bumbling Dads Army, with possibly significant ramifications. Consume is all about decentralisation, says Stevens. This terrifies corporates or governments because control will fall out of their hands; their power will be eroded; and eventually they all get consumed!

Consumes bullet-point tips:
Resourcefulness and inventiveness can find ways around the mightiest of organisations.
The true spirit of the internet is about freedom and self-provision.
Power comes from pervasiveness.

Consumes motto is: "trip the loop, make your switch, consume the net."

www.consume.net