Resilient, Locally Networked Access to the Internet Communication Infrastructure

Will internet access be controlled and monopolized by a handful of global internet access providers?

Can governments prevent access to certain sites?

Perhaps there is an alternative in the making.

Hundreds of municipalities are recognizing that facilitating internet access is part of their responsibility towards citizens, and they are planning to bypass traditional internet access providers, opening access to the net in a more direct way. According to an article of DMeurope.com, over 400 cities world wide are currently planning to deploy broadband networks in their areas, and 2006 should see a doubling of the numbers.

Rome, along with New York, San Francisco and Paris, is among the major cities planning to provide citizens and visitors with widespread internet access, choosing between fibre or wireless broadband networks using wi-fi hotspots, mesh networks or pre-WiMAX technology.

Mesh networks are a natural candidate for constructing a resilient, locally networked access to communication infrastructure. The Times in the UK has an article that explains how New Orleans could have profited from such a network to facilitate hurricane relief and how some of the most unlikely places are linking up with the internet by installing networks of little radio boxes that start communicating with each other, as soon as they find peers within reach, forming an autonomous network.

Read the full article:
Independent And Autonomous Local Access To The Communication Infrastructure: Which Roads Ahead?

[tags]wireless,wi-fi,mesh networks,internet access[/tags]