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Ask HN: Can a mesh network replace fiber?

6 pointsby philippnagelover 8 years ago
or is using fiber inevitable?

5 comments

PaulHouleover 8 years ago
No.<p>Mesh networks are like the millimeter wave fairy. People want to believe in it, but it is not real.<p>Every time you transmit a radio packet there is a chance that it will interfere with a packet or be interfered with by another packet. Note there are two factors so interference goes as the square of the number of packets.<p>Want fast wifi?<p>Gave a wired router in your house and connect it with Ethernet to a wireless access point in the middle of the house. If your house is big, get more access points.<p>Wireless repeater add more hops, more latency, more interference. It is not necessarily true that adding nodes adds performance, often the opposite is true.<p>People today think wires are ritually unclean and they will suffer for unreliable and broken tech because of it.
gravypodover 8 years ago
A mesh network can use fiber. A mesh network is just a network where there are redundant connections between all systems on the network.<p>This does not limit us to RF for everything. We CAN use fiber in a mesh network.
grizzlesover 8 years ago
The technology side is feasible. The economic &#x2F; critical mass proposition is a bigger problem. I tested the idea of a static mesh network, but there was too little interest in it. See here: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;tricorder.org&#x2F;eric&#x2F;upliink.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;tricorder.org&#x2F;eric&#x2F;upliink.html</a>
niftichover 8 years ago
Replace fiber where? The backhaul (from your neighborhood junction box to the Internet) or the last mile?
wmfover 8 years ago
If the link rate of the mesh is ~4 Gbps maybe it could come close to providing 1 Gbps per customer.