Wireless Works Wonders in Tibet

A great article on Wired talks about mesh wireless networks and how they are helping people in secluded areas of Tibet get access to VOIP and Internet services.

The volunteers are building a low-cost wireless mesh network to provide cheap, reliable data and telephony to community organizations.

The Dharamsala Wireless Mesh is an example of “light infrastructure,” a concept gaining popularity among tech developers: decentralized, ad hoc networks that can deliver essential services faster than conventional means.

Attempts to deploy similar community wireless networks in America have been blocked repeatedly by national phone carriers. It takes a big company like Google to build citywide Wi-Fi networks (the company launched its first in Mountain View, California, this week).

I hope mesh networks get more attention and bigger and more secure. I think they are a great addition to the topology of the Internet.