Registering a TWCN Node

How to register a WNAP or wireless node with TWCN's database

Step 1.

We need your latitude and longitude, if you have a GPS unit skip to Step 5. Otherwise surf to MapBlast, login as 'tawnag' with a password of 'tawnag'. Alternatively you may use Canadian Coordinate Lookup on your own if you feel brave and skip to Step 5 (it is faster but may not be as intuitive and forgiving of entry error).

Step 2.

Enter your address into the appropriate form fields

Image of the country, Street Address, and City fields in the form

Step 3.

Zoom in (once is good enough).

Step 4.

After zooming in, your latitude and Longitude show up in the top right hand corner of the map image. Jot them down, you'll need those later.

Image of a latitude and Longitude example

Step 5.

Surf to http://maps.personaltelco.net/node_create_page, a page used to add a wireless node to a database that also maps the nodes active, inactive, or potentially interested but not yet committed. Fill in the information as needed. The naming convention for the Toronto Wireless Community Network is as follows, "TWCN Lastname"; for example, "TWCN Hammerschmidt".

Image of the Node Name, Contact Info, Status, Latitude, and Longitude fields in the form

Step 6.

After filling in the info and submitting the form from Step 5, you may be asked to fill in some additional details about your node.

To help users access your Toronto Wireless Community Network node, please enter your ESSID according to the naming convention "TWCN-#", where the number sign (#) is your TWCN node number (for example, "TWCN-240"). Furthermore, you'll need to select "TWCN" from the Group Menu.

Image of the access point and node information sections. Highlighted is the ESSID portion of the form

Step 7.

To help users access your Toronto Wireless Community Network node, you should now change the ESSID of your basestation(s) to match your entry from Step 6 (for example, "TWCN-240").

Image of the Set Up interface for a LinkSys router. Highlighted is the ESSID portion of the form

Congratulations! If you haven't already done so, join the TWCN mailing list and announce the launch of your new node!

If you would like to stay informed on current events at Toronto Wireless Community Network, please join our mailing list.

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