Omnipresent wireless mesh at commodity prices is inevitable. OmniMesh will lead the way by delivering last mile connectivity through the use of familiar wireless technology, military-grade cognitive radios, and blockchain-driven security and billing.
There is a lot of misinformation out there surrounding wireless mesh. Let’s look at some of the myths and misconceptions.
Myth: Internet service has to be expensive, no matter how it is delivered.
Truth: Yes, it is true that current and future internet delivery are expensive, for most providers. Here are a few of the reasons:
- Costly infrastructure will be needed to deploy 5G
- Mixing outdated, high-maintenance infrastructure (like copper) with new technologies
- Huge service and support operations
- Excessive government regulation
- Heavy debt burden
But OmniMesh suffers from none of these drawbacks. We use proven, modern technology and our decentralized ownership model keeps these factors from driving costs too high.
Myth: mesh is not secure.
Truth: mesh is inherently more secure than an easily hackable centralized network that most people are tied to today. This is because, instead of one massive data center, content is separated across many smaller home networks, each with its own security.
Picture a puzzle with thousands of pieces. If the puzzle were stored in one box at one site, a thief would only have to pick that lock to gain access. If, on the other hand, it were spread out across many boxes, the thief would have to find all the boxes, all the pieces, and then pick all the locks simultaneously. To steal content from OmniMesh, pirates have to crack not one homeowner’s network, but thousands. each piece in a separate location. This puzzle thief would have to not only find where all the pieces are, but pick each lock simultaneously.
Myth: mesh is slower to deliver content than fiber, 5G, or other competing technologies.
Truth: OmniMesh stores content at the edge, with little pieces of each popular content spread out. So when a homeowner’s access point is sitting idle, it’s actually indexing content, gathering puzzle pieces ahead of time – so that when the homeowner or her neighbor signs in, content comes down the short pipe at blazing speed, eliminating the bottlenecks of long-distance fiber delivery and data centers.
Myth: Today’s centralized data centers and fiber networks are the most efficient solution for storing and delivering content.
Truth: Today’s data centers and networks have never achieved their goals for efficiency or reliability. Fiber is awesome technology, but it requires two things. A huge stockpile of data at the business end, and a cheap way to push that data to the consumer edge. Stockpiling the data centrally is an enormously expensive proposition—for example, the power and water consumption just to COOL a data center cost more than the drives that fill the centers themselves. The more they run, the more it costs. On the other hand, in a decentralized mesh edge storage network, the home computer’s cooling fan needs more juice than the mesh access point connecting to the internet. Decentralizing data makes it more efficient to store.
Myth: Decentralizing the network (e.g. giving up control) exposes content creators to piracy.
Truth: They’re already exposed. And while it’s true that sometimes decentralized networks (e.g. BitTorrent, Limewire) have been used against content creators, similar technology can encourage consumers to pay for content and consume more of it.
Think about the climate from which iTunes was born. At the time, Napster had all but taken over. Artists and content producers were not being compensated for their efforts. And most people were not running out to purchase new CDs. Steve Jobs offered a solution that effectively took that same streaming technology and created a platform where it was convenient, secure, and priced in terms that most consumers find agreeable, cutting deep into the demand side of piracy.
I hope we have dispelled some of the misconceptions surrounding wi-fi mesh. When combined with the technology, smart contracts, and military-grade security employed by OmniMesh, the result is reduced risk and improved performance that benefits both consumers and creators.