Editing Wireless community network (section)

===Early project in rural areas===
[[File:Guifi.net supernode installation 2.jpg|thumb|right|250px|A volunteer installing a "supernode" of [[guifi.net]]. In July 2018 guifi.net had over 35,000 active nodes and about 63,000&nbsp;km of wireless links.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://guifi.net/en/what_is_guifinet|title=What is guifi.net?}}</ref>]]
In 2000, [[guifi.net]] was founded because commercial [[internet service provider]]s did not build a broadband Internet infrastructure in rural [[Catalonia]]. Guifi.net was conceived as a [[wireless mesh network]], where households can become a node in the network by operating a radio transmitter. Not every node needs to be a [[wireless router]], but the network relies on some volunteers being connected to the Internet and sharing that access with others. In 2017 guifi.net had 23,000 nodes and was described as the biggest mesh network in the world.<ref>{{cite book |editor1= Ileana Hamburg |editor2=Alexandra David |date= 2017 |title= Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Skills in Europe: Examples to Improve Potential Entrepreneurial Spirit |publisher= Verlag Barbara Budrich |isbn= 9783847409601 | page = 25}}</ref>

In 2001, BCWireless founded to help communities in [[British Columbia]], [[Canada]], set up local Wi-Fi networks. BCWireless hobbyists experimented with [[IEEE 802.11b]] wireless networks and antennas to extend the range and power of signal, allow bandwidth sharing among local group members and establish wireless mesh networks. The [[Lac Seul First Nation]] communities set up their Wi-Fi network and constituted the non-profit K-Net to manage a wireless network based on [[IEEE 802.11g]] to provide the entire reserve with Wi-Fi using the unlicensed spectrum in combination with licensed spectrum at 3.5&nbsp;GHz.<ref>{{cite book |editor1= Andrew Clement |editor2=Michael Gurstein |editor3=Graham Longford |editor4=Marita Moll |editor5=Leslie Regan Shade |date= 2011 |title= Connecting Canadians: Investigations in Community Informatics |publisher= Athabasca University Press |isbn= 9781926836041 | page = 192}}</ref>