[ale] All you Comcast fanboys...

[Michael B. Trausch]

On 01/30/2015 12:55 PM, Pete Hardie wrote:
> I always wonder if a mesh network via home wifi could work for
> email/messaging traffic, although it does not solve for web access or
> data download/streaming
A medium-bandwidth mesh network with many nodes would work just fine for
getting away from the current corporate-and-government dominated model
of the current Internet.

We have the technology to do it today.  All you need is a small
weatherproof enclosure, a method for harnessing solar and/or wind power
(or come up with more interesting solutions... we're talking tiny
hardware with tiny power requirements, and it might even be possible to
derive enough useful power from the surrounding RF environment in some
cases, such as when within a mile or two of a high-powered radio or TV
transmitter), and the ability to communicate with the nodes within reach
of it.  Only a small percentage of the nodes in the mesh need WiFi
capability—or Bluetooth, or some other thing.  The mesh would be a very
low power network where nodes could literally be tossed in the grass. 
Make it just heavy enough that it won't get eaten by the lawnmower,
robust enough to be stepped on or kicked, and have a hand-held tool
(perhaps an app on a smartphone with a Bluetooth device that can look
for the mesh nodes) for finding nodes and repairing breaks in the mesh.

One could go all /Twister/ and deploy the network off of the back of a
pickup truck...

Alas, it's just a good idea.  I have no funding with which to do it.

    — Mike
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