1. what is Freifunk?
"Freifunk" is the name of the non-commercial WLAN citizens' network in which everyone can participate by making part of their own Internet bandwidth available to others.
Participation works with an additional, commercially available WLAN router, which - depending on the model - can be purchased as a new device from around 20 euros. A special Freifunk firmware is then installed on this device: a software update that transforms the router into a Freifunk router. (Note: The process can also be reversed, so that the delivery status can be restored without damaging the router).
The resulting Freifunk router can now be connected to your own Internet router and from now on will use your home Internet access to transmit WLAN data from the Freifunk network to the Freifunk provider of the local Freifunk group. Your own LAN (intranet) remains protected from access from the Freifunk WLAN.
Freifunk routers provide a WLAN network with the identifier (SSID) "kbu.freifunk.net", which is not password-protected. Access is as simple as this: select network - connected!
The highlight: Freifunk routers also network with each other, as long as they are within WLAN range, so that your own Internet access can sometimes fail without the Freifunk network failing: your own Freifunk router simply routes the data via the neighborhood. You can network with Freifunk. This also often applies offline when you talk to your neighbors about it.
There are more than 300 local Freifunk groups in Germany that set up and develop the necessary technology and make it possible to participate.
Freifunk is decentralized, i.e. nobody can simply switch off the network. It would even work without an Internet connection, even if only to a limited extent within the network spanned by Freifunk routers.
For a long time, the liability for interference that only applied in Germany was originally one of the main reasons why Freifunk providers routed Freifunk data traffic to the Internet via a few central servers. Originally, a provider privilege applied in the case of interference liability, which exempted these providers from it. In the meantime, the operators of Freifunk routers could also route the data traffic directly to the Internet, but it still makes sense to use the central solution due to possible blocking orders, among other things.