Who Wants To Network?

Today's value propositions for getting connected are becoming compelling to the point where you almost can't say no. 

Free Wi-Fi in Mountain View?  Come on....log me on.

Community, "grass-roots networking" efforts are the new big thing (or an old thing if you know how the Internet was created).

Think of it like (I said LIKE) the peer-to-peer networking models of Morpheus and Kazaa that allow other people to download songs on your computer IF you use their software. And you get to do the same.  But these things are aimed at broadband access and networking.

These new grassroots models leverage large amounts of people and unused bandwidth to provide free (or super low-cost) Wi-Fi, voice services and other useful content services - giving users free Wi-Fi, free equipment (sometimes) and free phone services (notice I didn't say free sex). But users (usually) must agree to deploy certain equipment and make it available to others.

The latest is Meraki. They make a super low-cost (sub $50) Wi-Fi mesh AP that sits in the consumer's home and enables "community Wi-Fi." Google has apparently invested in them. Each device can communicate (wirelessly) to another device in a nearby home and so on - ultimately enabling a huge community mesh network.

Meraki spun out of the RoofNet group at MIT. Their core strength is in designing very efficient routing protocols and rate adaptation algorithms for mesh networks. But, according to insiders, they do not design any specialized hardware. The idea is to use multiple hops to gain coverage area, rather than optimizing receive sensitivity or antenna gain to increase range for individual nodes. They initially wanted to focus on enabling a new breed of ISPs that bridge between the backbone mesh and a hotzone-type of neighborhood.

The idea of grassroots efforts in the network services biz was popularized by FON which characterizes itself as "the largest Wi-Fi community network in the world"  Fon makes money by charging a usage fee to "Aliens" for day passes which can be used to connect to the Internet through a Fon access point. "Bills" are also charged a reduced usage fee when they connect to the Internet though another user's router.  Here's more detail on how FON works.

Where government regulation prohibits innovation and where private enterprise make it cost prohibitive, technology can and will enable a true revolution.  If people want something, technology will make it possible.  Voice over the Internet has made voice free where phone companies and government never could.

While who knows whether Meraki and FON will succeed but they're certainly on the right track with more to come.  Technology will ultimately empower people to have a voice that can't be stopped. 

Now if we can just apply this technology to reducing taxes.