The idea isn't new and it's what I thought John Mauldin was refering to.
I was wrong about that.
He is involved in a company which builds a wi-fi internet access mesh over an entire area or city.
It's one of the few times I've ever been excited by an economist.
Frontline Thoughts
Article title: A Most Disruptive TechnologyDate published: May 11, 2007
... A Brief Introduction to Wireless Mesh Technology
Wireless mesh technology was developed for the US Defense Department. Basically, it was a way for tanks on the battle field to communicate with one another and a central system. Each tank was an access point (AP). An AP would talk to its nearest AP who would relay the messages to another close AP, passing messages up and down the line. The network was "smart" in that you could take out one tank and it would "heal" itself, finding the shortest way back to the central command center.
...Within 10 months, Richardson will have the most advanced wireless broadband system in the world, what we think of as a third generation mesh system. Over this time, the company will be installing approximately 700 basketball-sized access points (APs) throughout the city on light poles, buildings and other infrastructure. This will lay a very dense high speed wireless broadband blanket over the entire city.
...Every citizen in the City of Richardson will be able to access 756 Kbps of internet connectivity for free, from anywhere in the city. They will be able to access the internet from their homes, schools, restaurants and parks using standard wi-fi connections which are now installed on almost every notebook computer. That is almost as fast as many so-called high speed broadband connections that one pays dearly for today, and several times faster than the various hotspots at your local coffee shops. And I should note that the tax-payers of the City of Richardson are not paying one penny for this, and in fact are going to see additional revenues as a benefit.
...But once the infrastructure is built, it can do so much more. For those who want higher speeds, they will be able to buy up to 20 megabits of bandwidth (upload and download) for quite modest expense when compared to what they are paying today. That is up to 10 times or more faster than what we currently think of as "high speed broadband." Faster than your T-1, DSL, cable or cellular 3G. You will pay less and get more.
... In Richardson and elsewhere, MeshLinx is offering the basic infrastructure for free. This avoids all the time consuming, political budget battles in the cities. When a service is offered for free, much of the mandated competitive process is eliminated.
