So Cal Free Net.org

Last night was the 'official opening' of the Golden Villas installation we did a couple of months ago. This was a party thrown by the residents for the installation team and it was fantastic. Lots of kids running around (avid users of the lab), excellent home cooked food, and a great time to catch up with the people who are really using the system.

Computer Lab

The lab has been getting regular use. Someone comes MWF to supervise the kids and the residents seem to have a roster worked out for other times where they take it in turns. They said the kids use the computers for homework and general skills and really like it. Improvements they suggest are more programs for the kids to use, and more ideas generally on appropriate websites they can visit and learn from. We also need to train a couple of admins so they can 'unfreeze' the machines and make necessary tweaks like installing and networking an old printer that someone donated.

Resident Usage

The residents gush over the money this is saving them and the convenience it provides. Judging from the logs, there are 20+ users every night, as well as regular daily users, so its getting good use.

One family we spoke with said they're saving $75 on broadband as they were paying extra charges for multiple IPs for extra computers. They also mentioned how they saved another $200 in college fees by being able to do part of their college work online. This also saves them a lot of time commuting to college as now they can do a lot of the course work at home with the (five) kids.

A Job Well Done

All in all, we left feeling very proud of our work there. The network has been reliable and maintenance free. The only systemic problem is a cable modem that hangs every month or so. The gateway router running m0n0wall and the two APs haven't been touched since installation.

Again, kudos to the many folks (at least ten when I counted) who helped in various ways with this installation - both on day but also behind the scenes lending tools, configuring and testing equipment and providing advice and encouragement.