How about peer to peer connectivity
- Jeremy Wagner-Kaiser · Top CommenterA peer-net is of limited utility without someone running services. Sooner or later you need an uplink to get out.
You could use a peernet on the ground, and these uplink drones have literally nothing to do with that. So the real answer is that Facebook isn't party to be asking.Reply · · March 27, 2014 at 3:08pm - Oladele Ayuba · Top Commenter · Lagos, NigeriaJeremy Wagner-Kaiser but think of a peer-net as the way to handle the last mile. The nearest peers to the uplink handle the traffic up and down.
With all this low power distributed computing technology getting better and better i don't see why i couldnt be possible.
I live in a 3000sq km community with 7000 mobile phones per sqkm. For the sake of argument, let's say all these were smart phones capable of participating in a distributed computing scheme, i dont see how a whatsapp wouldnt work effectivelyReply · · March 28, 2014 at 4:20am - Jeremy Wagner-Kaiser · Top CommenterOladele Ayuba Among other things, you'd likely have significant routing issues and a lot of room for bad actors to act unnoticed. Building a functional peernet where your routing table changes completely every minute is no small task. Especially if you want it to work the whole time.
It's not a question of if it's possible (it is) or if it would be reliable (sometimes). It's a question of if it's a good idea, and the answer is likely "Only so long as the usage of the internet remains very simplistic".
A real wireless infrastructure would be vastly preferable.Reply · · March 28, 2014 at 6:18am
- Byron G · Top Commenter · Communications Editor at Congregation Emanu-ElHelp cities pay for fiber connectivity for better Internet, please.
- David Howell"Skynet" joke
- Madhav WritesDrones sound cool, it reminds me of the Iridium project which was also very cool, why wouldn't you want to have the Earth surrounded by 66 satellites providing cellular service, anyone remember that humongous vision that crashed from the sky!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Iridium_satellite_constella tion
I think what we need is cheaper and more effective solutions. I wrote my MS thesis at MIT 11 years ago on providing Internet and access to Internet of Things, to people using local transportation http://web.mit.edu/profit/htdocs/thesis/ Madhav-SDM-Thesis.doc.
I hope Facebook and Google learn from Iridium's mistakes and not burn through $Billions before finding the business model! - George Kafantaris · Top Commenter · Youngstown State UniversityLet's remember that web access also means telephone access. And this might be more of what’s at stake here.
In this context the “combination of drones, satellites and lasers” make sense -- as perhaps the high price Facebook paid for WhatsApp.
Also, this seems to be along the lines of the independent network that Steve Jobs wanted to set up back in 2007.
For sure, these pioneering efforts of Facebook and Google towards universal web access are fantastic news for people everywhere -- though a bad omen for the cellular monopoly now enjoyed by Verizon, AT&T and Vodafone. - John RadischI hope that in the future as this concept develops further, that these ideas will be able to interoperate. This Facebook announcement does not mention the (Google) Loon Project with it's similar objective of global network access. The sky is big enough for all rural access techniques. Are the corporate motives really pure enough to 'do no evil'?
- Daniel Maggs"While they both have somewhat altruistic objectives" Er...no.
- Jeff HallSo let me get this straight... we can fly drones through the air with internet on them.. but we can't have our cell phones on during take off ?
