Free internet has been attempted before, what went wrong?

Mesh Networking

What is a mesh network?

A mesh network generally refers to a system in which devices like our home routers can speak to other peoples home routers, pass information along a chain which down the line is connected to the rest of the internet. The system would be beneficial because if one system goes down, the information could take a new path to get to the same destination. So if a certain area of down underwent a kind of disaster, other part of town's communications wouldn't be affected.

Motherboard on YouTube posted a video about "Hackers Taking Back The Web" where a man builds a similar mesh network type radio pole. It's a 30 minutes video but absolutely worth the watch.

Mesh networks have failed in the past to create free internet at a consumer level for a multitude of reasons, but most because...

  • It demands the user purchase their own equipment and program it
  • In order for it to work, a huge amount of users must already be linked to it
  • Unreasonably slow browsing speeds due to radio interference, low bandwidth and throughput constraints
  • Possibility for data interception from users down the mesh line
  • Traditional internet service providers do what they can to stop them for personal gain
  • There's no incentive to be a part of or host a portion of a mesh network
 
 

Mesh network was only a piece of the puzzle

Point to multi Point (PTMP) wireless networking

A Point to Multi Point Radio can be essentially the same thing as a normal WiFi access point in a sense that it connects itself to multiple devices.  However, it normally only connects to a specific kind of device, usually being a long range radio station. They also can make very long range connections possible. 30 mile point to point connections are not uncommon. Ubiquiti does an incredible job explaining PTMP in their AirMax video. The whole video is awesome information, but for now you only really need the first 2 minutes.  We will use a variety of Ubiquiti products so watching the entire video will be nothing but good for you.