Irdest: Decentralised ad-hoc wireless mesh communication

Re:Irdest: Decentralised ad-hoc wireless mesh communication by superkuh on Saturday April 24, 2021 @03:58PM (#26927830)

If the frequencies used are above the plasma frequency of the ionosphere (typically >30 MHz) like here then the only solution to "mesh" or cell networks is line of sight and that only comes from height above terrain. And height above terrain, except in rare and unique cases, is always expensive.

The only reason cell networks work is that the telcos pay big money for getting access, power, and backhaul to places up high. No amount of power increases, modulation gain, reflector aperture, software, or anything else you can think up is going to get around the lack of line of sight.

Unless a decentralized mesh network has enough money to do this it will only ever work in specific regions where single individuals or groups can pay $$$ and cover large areas. Like in Seattle where the mountainous coastal terrain is useful for hamwan's network, or in mega-cities like New York where residents have skyscraper roof access for p2p wireless community ISPs.

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Re:Irdest: Decentralised ad-hoc wireless mesh communication by woah on Saturday April 24, 2021 @05:28PM (#26928382)

Actually, wireless ISPs are very common around the world. Yes, line of sight to another node or a tower is always necessary.

There's such an odd divide between tech geeks who like to sit around and think about "p2p wireless decentralized mesh networks", and don't know of any network that doesn't use those buzzwords, and wireless ISP operators who actually build them in the real world despite never having heard the word "mesh".

Generally the networks started by the mesh geeks perform much worse, and have few, if any subscribers, despite the fact that topology and equipment are identical to a wireless ISP.

Source: was a mesh geek, started a company making open source software for p2p mesh networks, now it serves wireless ISPs, who tend to have 100x the hustle and professionalism of the mesh geeks.

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Re:Irdest: Decentralised ad-hoc wireless mesh communication by throwaway1090 on Saturday April 24, 2021 @05:51PM (#26928483)

That's very interesting. Do they deliver internet through WiMAX ?

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Re:Irdest: Decentralised ad-hoc wireless mesh communication by superkuh on Saturday April 24, 2021 @06:58PM (#26928922)

A wireless ISP is not running a "mesh". But yeah, having an income stream to pay for height above terrain makes all the difference.

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Re:Irdest: Decentralised ad-hoc wireless mesh communication by woah on Saturday April 24, 2021 @07:29PM (#26929108)

Some run meshes, some don't. Whether or not they use a distance-vector routing protocol is a pretty insignificant technical detail IRL.

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Re:Irdest: Decentralised ad-hoc wireless mesh communication by na85 on Saturday April 24, 2021 @04:07PM (#26927886)

They're good solutions for places like Athens where the population is dense and urbanized and people are more concerned with getting any connectivity at all rather than getting low ping times in CSGO.

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