On Sunday, June 8, 2003, at 01:16 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
2) what concerns would I have: will this mean that my Internet connectionDefinitely the mesh solution needs to be able to give MY traffic priority.
is saturated when I want to use it? We need QOS and/or ways to automatically
turn down access to my Internet connnection when my household is actively
using it. Does it effect my security (currently my private wireless net is
behind a NAT).
Does my wireless link slow down due to lots of other
traffic flowing over it?
3) Is a wireless mesh reliable & secure enough to rely on it? Is it true
that tcp over a 3 hop mesh network link generally works at 15% of expected
throughput (due to tcp's poor performance in the face of packet loss and
latency).
Related I think, slowdowns will occur definitely if there's just one radio in each mesh node. The more nodes within range, the more slow it gets, as it has to basically divide its time between them.
But, how often do you use the full 10Mbs of your WiFi? Most people only have < 1Mbps from the internet anyway. And, with 802.11g, the speed is 4x or more faster. Also, just add a radio. If you have two radios on two different channels you can mesh twice as fast (well, up to three channels ;-)
... and if you add directional antennas to the mix, which I think that the sophisticated members of the mesh will do, you can have as many radios as you want, as many links as you want, without worrying about channels. Having a directional point-to-point link is just like having a virtual wire, with little interference to worry about if it's set up properly.
simon
Quoting Ken Restivo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
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Well for months now, I've been wondering what all the hoopla was about Mesh
networking and meshed AP's. It sounded impractical except for very
densely-populated, urban, geek-infested, affluent areas.
Then I finally hammered together a working combination of kismet, orinoco
drivers, and libpcap. And drove around one small corner of my sleepy,
low-tech, beach-town of Pacifica.
And found... 102 live access points!!?!?
I expected maybe 1 or 2... a dozen, tops. But 102 of 'em? Driving around, jaw
hanging open, mumbling "Holy shit..." a la John Belushi.
Pretty near saturation coverage-- lots of overlapping beacons. This in a town
where, at a recent gathering of 20 or so local residents, only 3 actually
raised their hands when asked who had *any* Internet access at home!
Lifting off the grid suddenly seems less of a pipe dream, and more like... an
inevitability.
- -ken
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