Freenet Effect
reprinted, with permission, from Telephony,December 2, 2002.
by W. David Stephenson
The ad-hoc Wi-Fi “freenet” movement is just the kind of development that validates the FCC Spectrum Task Force’s recent report, which urges new development of technologies that use spectrum more efficiently. The big question is whether major telecom players will find profitable common ground with activists driving the freenet movement or continue trying to quash it.
Either way, it’s time to take freenets seriously.
Recent developments illustrate Wi-Fi’s rapid evolution. Networking start-up Vivato just announced new antenna technology that serves several thousand users within buildings or up to four miles away. Network developer Proxim offers an “ISP in a box” system that lets a small network provider offer broadband access to as many as 250 customers with a range of 12 miles. And that’s the high end: “Building Wireless Community Networks” author Rob Flickenger’s $10 antenna (crucial component: an empty Pringles can) has sent a signal 10 miles.
Ominously for telecom companies, the growing patchwork of Wi-Fi nodes in public spaces is becoming more formalized — and officially sanctioned.
In one example, Kingsbridge, a rural town in England that was bypassed by telecom providers, created a municipal Wi-Fi system using low-cost “mesh” technology. That’s just the kind of technology FCC Chairman Michael Powell favors for more effective spectrum use.
Steven Johnson’s book “Emergence” shows that ad-hoc structures such as the Wi-Fi freenets, which he calls “emergent systems†can develop and thrive without a plan or supervision and with simple components.
To date, conventional broadband providers’ response has been hostile. But a growing number of Internet users feel that such an important source of information and community building shouldn’t be limited to a relatively small number of affluent users and corporate telecommunications providers.
In his statement with the release of the Spectrum Task Force report, Powell’s comments seemed to favor the technology and activist innovators — not the establishment — when he said, “Our spectrum policy is behind both consumers and technology — we hope to create an environment in which innovative technologies will prospe” If telecom providers are smart, they will try to create a hybrid pricing system that would give the freenet activists an incentive to work with the big companies for mutual gain.
Otherwise, given the new FCC push for innovation, I suspect that emergent behavior will win out, and Wi-Fi will truly become a force to be reckoned with.
