The JoinAfrica system is designed to make operating a large-scale WiFi network easy and sustainable for regular people. The system provides tools for constructing a wireless mesh network and a cloud-based server for billing and network management. JoinAfrica takes care of building relationships with ISPs and content providers, manages user accounts and lets operators associate with a common brand and offer the JoinAfrica "Freemium" service.

The following is a 50,000 foot view of how JA works. 50,000 feet not enough for you? Check out the How to Make pages.

The Network

Using technology from the Fabfi Wireless Project, JoinAfrica lets operators create self-organizing, fault tolerant wireless networks with a variety of 2.4 and 5Ghz wifi devices. Operators install our custom firmware on commodity hardware from manufacturers like Linksys, D-Link or Ubiquiti and augment the devices with rapid-fab antennas/reflectors as needed to increase range. With some minimal configration, JoinAfrica nodes associate with each other to form a wireless mesh that automatically identifies and routes web traffic to the closest gateway.

By selecting the correct reflectors, the same WiFi electronics can perform any function from long-range point-to-point connections all the way to providing local user access. The device firmware automatically detects and manages all these links as a single system.

Mesh Portal

Every Joinafrica mesh shares a common cloud server. This allows a user to log in across any network and allows operators to monitor their networks from the web. The JoinAfrica portal is built on top of the Afrimesh management gateway

User Portal

Users can connect directly to JoinAfrica with any wifi-enabled device. When the user opens a web browser they are presented with a page like the one below where they can opt for the limited free access or enter a paid password. Users can purchase scratchcards or use mobile payments.