This discussion started as a question here:
https://www.techrepublic.com.com/5208-6230-0.html?forumID=101&threadID=277860
Okay, so the new mission of this discussion is to set up a plan to provide practically free internet to the world or to, at a minimum, force ISPs to lower there price to a much lower level which will still be profitable for them (figure $7/month for high speed).
I think we, as a community of technical experts, can accomplish this. Here is my plan, open for discussion.
We need to first assume that we will not be able to or even allowed to run any lines across the country. We have to assume the entire communications grid is owned by the telcos and we will have to rent bandwidth from them to connect to all the various sites. But we really only require one fast connection and a wireless system per area. This is the plan on how to get there.
Step 1: everyone turn off your security features on your home wireless network. Let people access the internet through your line, it’s not illegal if you allow them to and you won’t be held responsible for their actions. Configure your system to give much higher priority to your computers than everyone else?s, that way you don’t experience performance issues but still provide full speed to users when your line is not in use, which is probably the majority of the day.
Step 2: Local communities need to set up a local infrastructure. New apartments, new neighborhoods, and other local communities should spend some money on a tower and powerful high-speed wireless system to provide free internet to there local communities (figure a 1 mile radius reliable broadcast). The homeowners group or similar organizations could then spend some money for the entire community for one high-speed connection. Security should be disabled at this access point, ideally.
Step 3: IT fellows should create a freeware program (later to be integrated into windows and OSx) that allows you to dynamically send and receive packets on multiple connections. It needs to detect the networks and determine quickly what routes to take for a given packet.
I don’t know if anyone is familiar with Ham radio, but a lot of the ham repeaters already have this setup. We just need to expand it past the hobbyists. There are allot of free long range repeaters out there, every town has at least one. We need to expand all of these to allow internet traffic, paid for by donations, state/town contributions and such. Home wireless cards will probably require an amplifier and may require you to mount your antenna on your roof.
I would effectively call this new free global wireless network fgw: free global wireless. In the long run it will take on a life of its own, perhaps creating the breading grounds for a new independent internet.