On 06/18/2012 08:43 PM, John Gilmore wrote: >> This is the path I'd like to explore for developing Freedombox tools -- the >> ability to communicate off the grid using point-to-point with routing beyond >> to some remote 3rd party. >> >> Are there WiMAX add-on boards which do the same (for longer distances)? > I strongly suggest using *wires* rather than wireless, whenever possible. It may surprise some that I actually tend to agree. The bedeviling part, though, is the 'whenever possible.' It may be possible to organize cooperative networks using a wireless approach, when the effort to do so using a wired approach would not be practical. I really do think that we should use copper and glass whenever possible - yet I also think it necessary to recognize that there are many situations in which it is *not* possible. > > You can trivially push a gigabit of traffic through an Ethernet cable > that can stretch from one apartment to another, or from one house to > another along a fence. And this gigabit won't conflict or compete with > any other traffic you're handling to other neighbors, nor compete with > wireless nodes. Yes. Wired networks, once built, perform much better. The problem is construction. It seems to me that folks are much more willing to install a transponder in their window than to trench and drill cable from one house to another. > > With a couple of readily available converter boxes, you can plug that > gigabit Ethernet into a fiber that can go to a destination up to 80km > away. So, this comes to the heart of the issue, in my opinion: rights of way. You *can* plug it into a fiber, but legally you *may* not, unless you petition the government for the right to bury that fiber in a way that makes it useful. It seems to me that regulatory capture and the state bureaucracy practically ensure that horizontal, cooperatives networks will not be granted access to crucial rights of way in which to place fiber. > > WiFi is sexy, but Ethernet (and Ethernet running over fibers) is what > runs most real dependable Internet services worldwide. If you share > your Internet connection with your closest neighbor over Ethernet, via > a FreedomBox, you'll unclog your wireless spectrum, and improve the > reliability and privacy of both of your Internet connections. And if you do it using wireless, you *will* clog your spectrum, but you won't have to drill through your masonry, or ask the building manager if there's a riser that you can rent. It's not just that wireless is 'sexy' - there are real trade-offs in practicality.
> > John > > PS: Wires and fibers are much harder to wiretap than radio signals. And yet infrastructure built with those technologies is routinely wiretapped, precisely because such buildouts require interfacing with corrupt state actors. respectfully, Isaac Wilder > > > _______________________________________________ > Freedombox-discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.alioth.debian.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/freedombox-discuss _______________________________________________ Freedombox-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.alioth.debian.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/freedombox-discuss
