[GRLUG] Mesh networking, localnet and Internet infrastructure

[john-thomas richards]

On Mon, May 18, 2009 at 12:48:14PM -0400, Adam Tauno WIlliams wrote:
> On Mon, 2009-05-18 at 12:30 -0400, Bob Kline wrote:
> > I wonder whether this is another reason
> > Comcast got a yen for implementing 
> > monthly byte quotes.  A router ( I'm 
> > assuming this is a router? ) with that kind
> > of range could provide free Internet access
> > to a big piece of a neighborhood if no 
> > encryption is used.
> 
> Sharing your for-consumer-use Internet connection beyond your
> "household" is almost certainly a violation of your EULA (contract).
> 
> > Can using boosters be considered
> > redistributing a service?  
> 
> I don't think so;  letting people other than those in your "household"
> would be redistribution.  Rules are very much like those of fair-use:  I
> can record on VCR/DVR a TV show to watch later,  I *cannot* give that
> recording to my buddy to watch at his house.

I think it is significant that no lawsuits have been filed against those
who upload television shows via bittorrent, etc.  All the lawsuits have
been against those sharing music and/or movies.  I may be stretching a
bit, but it seems the television industry does not want to push the
Supreme Court's decision regarding time shifting (recording a show to
view later) any further than it already is.  There's a good chance you
know more about this than I do but I'm not sure that sharing a
"time-shifted" recording with a buddy is a violation of copyright.  If
it were as clear-cut as you are presenting it, one must wonder why the
"violations" have not been pursued via legal action *at all*, let alone
to the degree music sharers have been pursued.

This is an interesting (to me, at least) discussion.

> > But then, boosting
> > only affects the outgoing signal.  From how
> > far can a typical laptop send info upstream?
> 
> Certainly less distance than the range of the AP.  Just like the range
> of the AP it depends allot on environmentals.  While you may get 300
> yards out of an AP in a neighborhood of level terrain, minimal
> vegetation, wood frame houses, clear skies, and minimal EMF interference
> the usable range in most circumstances (or even weather) is dramatically
> less than that.
> 
> > Well, one could still provide a neighborhood
> > radio streaming service.....
> 
> Maybe, but I doubt it.  You could certainly provide IP (or at least
> IPv6) connectivity but the latency of skipping across a half dozen or so
> APs would stack up pretty fast.  Much like a satellite connection it
> wouldn't be very pleasant for any kind of interactive use.
> 
> But it is a very interesting idea.

I'm no TCP/IP expert, but if the laptop cannot tell the server that it
has received the packets, will the server continue to send them?
-- 
john-thomas
------
The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the
opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.
Niels Bohr, physicist (1885-1962)