Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Project Rainbow - 802.11 Across the U.S.

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the pot-of-gold-optional dept.

rakerman writes "IBM, Intel and a number of wireless services operators are considering building a wireless data network across the U.S., according to the New York Times."

6 of 217 comments (clear)

  1. Can you h4X0r me now? by okie_rhce · · Score: 5, Funny

    Good...

  2. Rainbow Connection by pridkett · · Score: 5, Funny
    Can anyone else picture themselves wandering about aimlessly singing this age old tune whenever they can't find a network connection?
    Why are there so many songs about rainbows
    And what's on the other side?
    Rainbows are visions, but only illusions,
    And rainbows have nothing to hide.
    So we've been told and some choose to believe it
    I know they're wrong, wait and see.
    Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,
    The lovers, the dreamers and me.
    --
    My Slashdot account is old enough to drink...
  3. Not what it seems by Jack+William+Bell · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Most of the posts here seem to assume this means wireless connectivety everywhere. Such is *not* the case. The article states that the players in this network will put access points in airports and other public spaces and will not try to provide access to peoples homes.

    In fact this doesn't seem to be so much a 'Wireless Network' as a bunch of access points connected to the Internet. Not what I was hoping for when I saw the subject line.

    What I want is a nationwide variant of the Ricochet network. Anyone remember them? They used light-pole mounted units that acted as wireless routers, letting them provide access anywhere by routing the packets through the air to the closest wired router. It worked pretty damn well (if slow). I used it here in Seattle for a couple of years and being able to check my email while stuck in traffic alone made it worth the cost. The fact that I had Internet connectivety pretty much everywhere else was just gravy.

    A similar scheme can work with 802.11 devices, given cheap hardware and proper software. Many groups are already working on this. Here in Seattle there is even a group trying to set up a non-profit community network this way -- http://www.seattlewireless.org

    If such home-brewed networks were to spread across the country we could tie them together via the Internet, or even via leased lines between cities. Now that sounds like the kind of thing I would like to see! No way anyone could ever control that...

    Jack William Bell

    --
    - -
    Are you an SF Fan? Are you a Tru-Fan?
  4. Warez Sites with a new defense method. by OS24Ever · · Score: 5, Funny

    Just think, put a web site in the trunk of a Porsche and whenever the MPAA or RIAA come to shut you down, take off down the road.

    Then you can watch yourself live on Worlds Wildest Police Chases via your wireless connection while serving up countless bootleg MP3s & DVDs :)

    --

    As a rock-in-roll Physicist once said, No matter where you go, there you are.

    1. Re:Warez Sites with a new defense method. by BigJimSlade · · Score: 5, Funny

      Just think, put a web site in the trunk of a Porsche and whenever the MPAA or RIAA come to shut you down, take off down the road.

      It's the new movie "Pump Up The Bandwidth", starring Christian Slater as a troubled geek with a message to send. JonKatz says "This e-movie will be a defining moment in our post-Columbine-post-9/11 society!"

  5. Re:Warchalking... by alienmole · · Score: 5, Funny
    could someone enlighten me as to haw much an "assload" is, approximately?

    That's easy, it's 1.6 arseloads. A little more in Texas.

    For more information, I suggest the All-Purpose *load Unit Conversion Calculator.