Some terms one may hear when talking about Unwired Village:
Access: The ability to connect to a network and send or receive data while connected, for example, browsing a webpage, reading an email, or accessing an online application.
Broadband: Fast connectivity, enabling people to send or receive large amounts of data quickly and easily. The exact speed of “broadband” varies depending on who is defining the term.
Wireless, Unwired: Two works which are sometimes used interchangeably, the ability to access a network without being physically connected with a cable.
Wifi: WiFi is short for wireless fidelity and is the term used generically when referring of any type of 802.11 network, which is the current technology being used to provide wireless access today.
WiMax: The emerging next generation technology for wireless access. Currently in test mode, its wide-spread commercial applications are generally believe to be about 3 years away.
Hot Spot: A hot spot is an area of wireless access. One of the goals of this project is to use WiFi technology to create multiple hotspots throughout Orleans.
WiFi Cloud: AWiFi cloud is many smaller WiFi areas connected together to create an area of seamless wireless access. One of the longer term goals of Unwired Village is to create a process that would make it easy for many villages to set up hotspots, thus creating a WiFi cloud across the Cape, Islands, and Southeastern MA.
Community WiFi: A WiFi network developed by and for the community for the mutual good of business, government, citizens, and visitors. It may be administered by a municipality, a local business group, a non-profit, or a for-profit entity. It is generally freely accessible by everyone.
Public Network: A network that is shared by the public at large. It is not designed to replace private networks, but rather to augment them in public areas for applications which are appropriate to shared networks.
Broadband Agnostic: A wireless network that is not tied to any one carrier or broadband method. For example a broadband agnostic solution might include any combination of cable broadband, DSL, and broadband power, based on which is more effective, available, and economic at any given location.
Open Source: A way of creating a product in which the source material is widely accessible and shared by the community which creates or uses the product. Open source software is a common implementation of both the philosophy and the process. Open source software, such as Linux or Free BSD, is developed, maintained, and may be adapted and used by the community at large. It is not owned or controlled by any one commercial entity creating proprietary products. This means it is both cost-effective and offers a standards-based approach for building applications such as wireless network management.