Connecting Tomorrow

The stranglehold on the last mile is nothing new to any of us.  There are a handful of companies that control the communications networks that connect our homes to the rest of the world and they, at their discretion, let us know when we need more bandwidth, better services, etc.  Wait a minute… Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around?  Since when is the customer on the outside looking in?  But I digress…

What would happen if we figured out some way for every home in America to be a node facilitating the construction of a larger network owned solely and individually by the homeowner?  As the network begins to grow, each node comes in contact with an adjacent node and another adjacent node and another adjacent node, until each home has formed an entirely new network in true mesh topology.  Think of the possibilities such an infrastructure could create.  If we’re all eventually connected, can’t we then just go around the monopolies and connect to each other without their oversight?  What would be their purpose if such a network existed?  There’s obviously some mixture of wired and wireless technology that would need to be involved in a project like this but it’s not out of the realm of the possibility.  We’d also have to involve local and state governments but they work for us remember!  We could effectively redefine what it means to be truly connected.

What we have pondered over the past few years is a way to make this type of scenario possible.  A combination of wireless fiber products, mesh wireless products, other mesh wireless products, WiMax and some creative thinking should overcome current network obstacles.  How about creating a company that’s sole purpose is to manage said network and that’s it?  They wouldn’t provide any type of service on the network itself; they’d just provide the infrastructure.  What if it was some type of consortium (maybe like UTOPIA) whose sole purpose would be to oversee operations and was specifically governed by network neutrality and forbidden from ever offering their own services over the network?  We think that this type of setup would open entirely new business models for services we can’t even imagine and allow everyone, regardless of income level, to have access to everyone else, all the time.

I could go on all night about this particular topic and am happy to share the close to two years of research and ideas we have on the subject if you’d like.  Just say the word.