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Being Wireless: Viral Telecommunications

Posted by Hemos on from the but-what-about-frogger dept.

sh4na writes "3G is out before it is ever in... because, as Nicholas Negroponte puts it, the *real* next generation is the Wi-Fi "lily pads and frogs" concept. Wouldn't it be great?"

2 of 203 comments (clear)

  1. It has potential, but... by warpSpeed · · Score: 5, Interesting
    You need a fundamenatly different method of IP addressing, new routing protocols, and methods for interacting with the current net as it exists. Do you think that IANA will easly start putting out IP addresses for Mesh networks? Even with IPV6? The hardware is there, but more work needs to be done on the practical implementations of mesh networks and integrating them into the current infrastructure.

    Then lets consider how ling it will take the "Bells" to wake up and notcie that thier stangle hold on the local telco market is threatened. It will not take too long for Congress to churn out some back-assward laws that stifle any creative use of Wi-Fi.

  2. Already happening in my town... by ites · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Check out http://reseaucitoyen.be/, a project in Brussels that has been pushing this idea for some time.
    It's in French. Translation: take a WiFi card, attach an external antenna.
    Next, take an old Linux box, turn it into a router.
    Aim towards another node, and you join the network.
    Security is easy: treat this segment as being unsecure and use your existing firewalls.
    Basically such an architecture creates a public infrastructure on which all kinds of services are possible.
    It's cheap, robust, and a serious threat to the telcos.
    Negroponte is right: 3G is the Telcos trying to define the future, when the future is busy happening somewhere else entirely!

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