 Mesh-Node WiFi is a wireless technology that allows low-cost devices to create a dynamic mesh of access points through out their coverage area. Each access point, or node, works intelligently with the other nodes to find the shortest and fastest path for traffic to find its way through the mesh. Furthermore, the nodes are intelligent enough to dynamically find alternate paths around congestion (i.e. one of the DSL connections becomes clogged or a router gets turned of). For Wi-Fi in particular these nodes are the wireless routers themselves, which will cost roughly $50/ea. This technology is especially appealing for providing low-cost wireless Internet service throughout a neighborhood, as it does require installing a phone line and DSL service at each and every access point (or user's computer), and you can extend the coverage area simply by adding more wireless routers. Who else has used this technology?
If you imagine the case where 5 people share one DSL connection wirelessly, then yes, large downloads by your neighbor would indeed slow down your internet. However, Mesh Node Wifi enjoys several advanced features that specifically address this problem... The Mesh Itself: the mesh is the composite cloud of routers communicating with each other wirelessly, and they can redirect connections dynamically ease congestion. That is, if one DSL connection becomes swamped, the Mesh will direct you to DSL connections that are idle. This scheme works on the expectation that not all DSL connections within the mesh would be busy at any given time. Quality of Service Routing or Traffic Shaping: this is a scheme for routing Internet traffic that gives higher priority to certain kinds of content (Web, email, SSH, Skype) and lower priority to other kinds (file-sharing, bit-torrent, large downloads). Many newer broadband routers already support this style of routing, and the Mesh would do it on a larger scale to help economize the available bandwidth for all subscribers. For answers to more questions, please see our Frequently Asked Questions page.  We are specifically looking at routers from Open-Mesh.com, since they are very low-cost ($30/ea with $15 antenna) and customizable. We also like the access management console provided by Open-mesh.com, which handles many technical issues and subscription/access concerns for the network operator. (Although, we may also consider Orange Mesh as an alternative.) For the first phase we envision using the following equipment: Accton MR3201A Indoor Router, $30/ea in 20 or more qty https://www.open-mesh.com/store/products.php?product=Open%252dMesh-Mini%252dRouter (Note these routers may require a simple mod to improve their stability, possible also a 2nd antenna to improve range.) Duck Antennae http://www.fab-corp.com/product.php?productid=3069&cat=0&page=1 - 9dB antenna $15 https://www.open-mesh.com/store/products.php?product=7dbi-Antenna – 7dB antenna $10 Outdoor Routers These are actually just the indoor routers linked to above inside weatherproof enclosures. https://www.open-mesh.com/store/products.php?product=Outdoor-Enclosure Long distance antennae, i.e. to link routers too far apart for their duck antennae to work, may be made at very low cost using a Wasabi peas can and appropriate cables and fitting. Instructions for building such antenna can be found here. There are other manufacturers of inexpensive mesh-node wifi routers, in particular FON and Meraki. Furthermore, users may re-program their own Linksys routers to function as nodes within the mesh, but this is something we would not be able to support, at least not in the 1st phase.  The "Mesh" refers to the cloud of Wi-Fi routers all working in collaboration with each other to find the shortest and fastest path for routing users' traffic. Every router is essentially identical to one another, and all routers will know that a small handful of them (10-20) are connected to DSL connections to the provide the Internet uplink. For those looking to read more geeky details on Mesh-Node networking, there are 2 popular implementations...
Backhaul Links If the mesh created during the 1st phase ultimately proves too big for even Wi-Fi to handle efficiently, then we could partition the network into regions, where each region broadcasts its signal on a different channel. Each region would be linked together by a handful of high-speed 5.8GHz backhaul links. The access points for these links could be "super-node" routers with multiple radio built in, or multiple routers ganged together. At any rate, this is not expected to become an issue until the mesh grows to 100-200 nodes, but good to plan ahead... |
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