follow up paper

David Stevens
MCS 760
April 30, 2007

Mesh Networking Follow-up Paper

The use of networks from linking systems to sharing an Internet access point makes the stability of these networks paramount. The stability of a mesh networked system makes the network design layout appealing. The network is not reliant upon one source to gain access to the Internet, and the network is also not reliant on a server hub for accessing or sending information among the end-users. A mesh networking setup is cost affective because it is easy to maintain and is not always crippled by the failure of an access point since there are multiple.

The presentation covered the history of mesh networking and showed examples of the present use of mesh networking; however, the importance of mesh networking for future networking endeavors should not be lost. As mobile computing devices become smaller and more versatile the concept of a global network providing information access is an attractive prospective. The ability to provide cheap wireless access in residential areas by spreading the cost of Internet access over multiple end-users for each node with a backhaul to the Internet was discussed during the presentation. In this manner, communities will be able to fight the cost of high-speed internet access while utilizing their bandwidth in the most efficient manner. This is an appropriate option with the present technologies of MIMO (multiple in multiple out) routers and draft-N signal strength for residential communities. However, the users will get good performance from their network, but the setup will not be ideal for prolonged downloading (the usage of BitTorrent could cripple the network). The current community mesh network lacks the power to appease bandwidth gluttony; however, the stability of a mesh network allows the node administrators to spend more of their time limiting single users from draining the community bandwidth cache.

The idea of a regional to global mesh network makes the prospect of mobile computing devices inviting, and it also allows people to look at other options for staying connected. A regional mesh network would make the prospect of owning a mobile VOIP phone a cheap alternative to the cost of owning a cell phone. The topic of Fonero was discussed during the presentation. This idea of making a global mesh network is having a hard time overcoming the resistance people have to sharing their Internet access. The amount of spy-ware and computer viruses on the Internet does not make people feel comfortable about providing and utilizing a mesh network. It is hard to be trusting with all of the bad things that have been put onto the Internet in the past. However, if the regional mesh network movement is to gain a foothold people are going to have to trust the security programs and the other users that they allow into their mesh network. In an ideal world, people could trust one and another without having to worry about someone taking malicious actions against them. This is not the case presently so people need to set up a mesh network that repeats a wireless signal while being protective of the content on their own computer.