“The Last Mile” on the cheap
Feb 5th, 2007 | By Frank | Category: Gadgets, general, HardwareThe Last Mile problem is a well known issue in wireless broadband circles. Running between, say, cities is easy… getting it the last mile to individual houses is hard. Most of the solutions thus far have focused on rather expensive technologies (like tower based WiFi) that have limited utility. Enter these gentlemen. They are using low cost equipment that originates inside a dwelling, as opposed to outside on the pole, to spread WiFi Mesh networks. The idea is pretty intriguing and might have a great deal of utility, particular in low income areas. The one example the article cites indicates one landlord has rolled out Internet access at the expense of something like $1/month per household. That’s pretty darn impressive!
To be honest, I’ve wondered for a long time now why more companies haven’t been using more traditional router solutions. They’re cheap, they’re easy to configure, and they everywhere. I figured I was missing some key bit of information if everyone else was using boxes that cost hundreds of dollars each. Apparently I wasn’t.
