Firetide is developing a wireless mesh router, called Hotpoint. The typical approach to wireless networking involves, of course, access points or base stations that have a wired backhaul (T1, DSL) – which becomes one of the main cost drivers. Can mesh networks really work? Will there be enough of them?
The beauty of a mesh network is that is grows up organically, and doesn’t require massive capital to build out a network. There’s nothing stopping a company from deploying a massive network of mesh routers, though either.
What would entice home users to install Firetide (or similar) wireless mesh routers instead of cheap 802.11 access points? What if fast wireless network access became cheaper the more mesh routers you “gave” to the world (at home, in your office, in your cars)?
I’m not sure how this gets started, and how the wired broadband providers will react to people sharing bandwidth, but it’s an incredibly egalitarian technology. I hope somehow it sticks.
via Ray Ghanbari