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iPhone Commuter Network

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Create a free, WiFi network by tethering iPhones to all other iPhones in range. Each phone becomes a router, to distribute requested content to any other phone on the network. content could be cached webpages, files, MP3s or whatever. For example, you're on the train and there is no 3G network coverage...however you still have limited Internet access by using the collective cache of all phones on the train. They say in London you are never more than 100m away from a tube station, well I bet in any major city you are never more than 10m away from another smartphone. (Of course this all this could include android phones too.)

Benefits: No ISP. No contracts. No fees. No big brother govt hassles.

Drawbacks: limited content. speed?

simonj, Aug 22 2012

P2P telephony
[xaviergisz, Aug 22 2012]

A good idea, but not a new one http://www.quora.co...mobile-mesh-network
[theircompetitor, Aug 22 2012]

found this: http://en.wikipedia...bile_ad_hoc_network
but it does not mention any application where this is essentially an ISP substitute [simonj, Aug 22 2012]

[link]






       Drawback - vested interests sending hit-men after you?   

       Probably possible, but very unlikely to be popular with service providers.
8th of 7, Aug 22 2012
  

       I've thought about this decentralized network before.
rcarty, Aug 22 2012
  

       8th of 7 - that's the idea...Telcos and ISPs are redundant, dinosaurs of previous age.
simonj, Aug 22 2012
  

       Tell me more 21Q.. can it do what I suggested here? And if so..why isn't anyone doing it?
simonj, Aug 23 2012
  

       This idea has been mooted a couple of times, usually by me.   

       I think it falls down on two points. Firstly, the distance that single wifi can work, if I want to call someone in the same carriage,that's fine, but if they happen to be in Timbuctoo, then maybe not.   

       Unless the train is in Timbuctoo itself, of course, but I digress.   

       And secondly, the billing system. If I actually wanted to bill those one thousand people who have each used 0.2p of my wifi signal cost/battery charge.   

       I'm guessing that's why telcos actually exist. Like lawyers and mime artists, some institutions exist so we can all despise them and not each other.
not_morrison_rm, Aug 23 2012
  

       Let's say you have this network of commuters, and now let's say you have users on the periphery with real Internet access at Starbucks or the library or work or whatever. This would allow the users to collectively share such connections (and fail over broken WiFi connections if necessary). Bun.
kevinthenerd, Aug 23 2012
  

       Isn't this almost exactly how the OPC (One Per Child) computer Full Mesh network works? {Also, whatever happened to OPC? Is Raspberry Pi encroaching}
Dub, Aug 23 2012
  

       Microsoft actually did this exact idea with the Zune, but since they only sold one Zune (to me) there weren't enough to create a network.
DIYMatt, Aug 23 2012
  

       /Zune   

       au contraire, it was a network of one, ideal for recluses and the very security concious....
not_morrison_rm, Aug 23 2012
  

       not_morrison_rm, 1. you are not calling people you are sharing webpages 2. There is no billing system, it is a collective (did you miss the part where I said it was free?)
simonj, Aug 24 2012
  

       >1. you are not calling people you are sharing webpages 2. There is no billing system, it is a collective   

       Yes, but apart from that, I thought my points were entirely germane...
not_morrison_rm, Aug 24 2012
  
      
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