Yet another wireless mesh networking paper. Here's the executive summary. Here's the 3 point and above comments from slashdot.

Seems like even the geeks are still arguing the main point. Can bandwidth really increase as the number of nodes in a given area increases? This is (I think, with my limited math skills) what David P. Reed is claiming (maybe start looking here.) But it seems counterintuitive to most people, so I guess we're really going to need a large scale demonstration to prove the skeptics wrong.

But then there is a second level of problems. Even if it turns out this is possible, mathematically, it won't be as profitable for the entrenched players as the proprietary wires and spectrum model they are now operating under. So it may not be possible to change to a technically better system for purely economic reasons.

One scenario where I could imagine wireless mesh networks really taking off is after some sort of major disruption. Like if the telecoms all went bankrupt. Or some governmental entity shut the internet down. Or any of a couple even worse scenarios. But without the present imperfectly working system going away, I can't see people caring (or even understanding) enough to force this change.

But I can still hope. And maybe it can start, locally, not as a replacement to the internet but as a seperate layer that augments the current global net.
- jim 3-01-2003 6:36 pm

This is kind of off-topic, but I have a friend in Germany who says people in Europe don't use the web much because there are no cheap packages available from phone cos. In many countries it's long distance rates every minute you're on. So people get on once a week, download email to their hard drives, and check a site or two. The semi-www.
- tom moody 3-01-2003 6:51 pm


Weird. I really don't know for sure, but that sounds sort of extreme. I know it used to be worse (in terms of pay per minute charges) but I thought they had come around to our all you can eat model to some degree. And long distance charges? Even if you are in a city? Sounds like a suspiciously negative view, but I don't really know.

I'll see what I can find out.
- jim 3-01-2003 6:56 pm


Text messaging via mobile phone is quite popular in Europe, and may serve to a degree as a substitute for email. Also, the internet cafe seems much more popular in Europe than in the US. I spent a number of hours in the cafe pictured in that link, with at very reasonable unlimited weekly rate.
- mark 3-08-2003 7:57 am





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