Wireless Lamp Posts Everywhere

[Andy Sjostrom]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/69/34894.html' target='_blank'>http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/69/34894.html</a><br /><br /></div>Look out your window and count how many lamp posts you see! That is the number of access points you might be surrounded with in the future, according to this article. "Computerised lamp posts look like being the basis of the biggest data network ever, as the world's traffic monitors set about controlling cars with wireless. ... It's a very simple concept. "Take a lamp post, put electronics in it, send messages to other wireless devices, including other lamp posts." You can link the lamp post to the Internet directly, if there's an internet connection available - any sort of connection at all will do. High speed fibre is best, but if that's not available, then a satellite, or maybe a phone line nearby can be used. And if there's nothing at all, then ask the next lamp post if it has any Internet connection. It may do. If it doesn't, the next one may do; and so you go along the road until you find one that does. It takes fractions of a second to complete the chain; and once the chain is complete, any data you like can be sent down it."<br /><br />The article continues to explain how this concept is <a href="http://www.gnn.gov.uk/gnn/national.nsf/0/8385FE9F51EB868280256C1700390C87?opendocument">seriously planned in the UK</a>. I think it sounds very exciting and would not mind to live in a community where Wi-Fi was everywhere as long as a lamp post was in sight. However, I guess I can think of four issues:<br />1. Monopoly. It will be critical to make sure the infrastructure is open for any operator that wishes to sell connectivity. Otherwise, the price will surely be the doom of this idea.<br />2. Upgradeability. New wireless connectivity hardware, software and protocols are pushed faster than ever. How do you make sure hundreds of thousands lamp posts are easy to manage and upgrade?<br />3. 3G. Is Wi-Fi enabled lamp posts everywhere + Voice over IP a nightmare for 3G operators?<br />4. Health. One 3G base station can cause a riot, over health issues, in many cities in Sweden. How do you sell: "every lamp post is an antenna"?

[Oleander]

I know that the local electricity company where I live is offering internet access on the same wire as I get electricity from. So how hard can it be to connect lamp posts?

I would love this concept instead of using expensive 3G with lousy coverage!
The idea of using my VoIP account with my 5450 everywhere is just....
I'm in lack of words... :D

[sponge]

Look out your window and count how many lamp posts you see! That is the number of access points you might be surrounded with in the future

*looks* Hm, definitely zero :P No street lights in this area.

[Mike Temporale]

Very interesting. I think the biggest issue with setting this up would eb the initail cost. I have to figure that dropping some electronics on each and every lamp post will get expensive.

On my street there is one lamp post that never seems to stay on. We live in a newer area. It's only 5 years old. And in those 5 years the city has never been able to fix this damn post. So, I have to wonder, what effect would a flaky lamp post have on this kind of network? If one post goes down in the middle of a chain, and that's the one with the internet connection...

[Richard OKane]

I've often wondered if it would get to the point of WiFi being included in your local taxes...
Then 3G would be handy if you're out of range of the lamp posts?

[Dazbot]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/69/34894.html

One of the issues which is of concern, of course, is public fear of "radiation" which has led to many pressure groups. It doesn't seem to matter whether there's any evidence at all of a health hazard - just the sight of a mobile phone mast can trigger fears of the invisible power beaming out of it. So it will be a relief to all politicians to know that the new 63 GHz network is far, far less powerful - at 200 milliwatts, the highway net transceivers will produce around half of one per cent of the full power of a mobile phone mast.

[possmann]

interesting - but I wonder about bandwidth limitation over time - if it would be enough to truly support hundreds of users (potentially). Neat concept though...

[claud9999]

Ricochet (for whom I worked for a couple years) did just this (sure it wasn't WiFi but it was 2.4GHz data). Their technology was much more robust by supporting multiple hops before you connect to a wire.

The biggest expense is not the hardware, software, network, or power. It's the "right of way" expenses where each city wants a cut of the take and managing how much each city's take is and establishing that relationship takes a team of negotiators.

Ricochet did require a custom "modem" device on the laptop/desktop.

It was too bad that Ricochet went under...Alas it was a case of Vulcan Ventures (VC company for Paul Allen) came in and the existing management and key engineers walked.

Another company bought the tech and has been re-establishing networks but it's taking a long time.

[mmidgley]

Andy Sjostrom wrote:
> 2. Upgradeability...How do you make sure hundreds of thousands lamp posts are easy to manage and upgrade?

that could be a tough problem. i doubt it would ever be "easy".

> 3. 3G. Is Wi-Fi enabled lamp posts everywhere + Voice over IP a nightmare for 3G operators?

is that a technology question or a financial market question?

> 4. Health...How do you sell: "every lamp post is an antenna"?

it certainly would help that it doesn't appear to be an RF device. near my house there is a golf course with a giant set of flagpoles that doubles as the cell site, but you can't tell by looking at it. but the real answer is to do the scientific analysis showing how much RF energy we are hit with anyway when just going down the street...

m.

[daS]

Ricochet (for whom I worked for a couple years) did just this (sure it wasn't WiFi but it was 2.4GHz data). Their technology was much more robust by supporting multiple hops before you connect to a wire.
I was going to point out Metricom, but you beat me to it.

Yes the "right of way" was certainly a big issue, but there was also the problem of Metricom losing it's focus and expecting to be a national wireless carrier.

When the company got started, it only targeted cities where the utility companies used the service. That made it easier to get the right of way in trade of services. Then they went after campuses. This was also a good move since there were a lot of potential customers in a small geographic area (an important factor for Ricochet.)

But then they got caught up in the early Internet VC boom. They got - and spent - huge sums of money trying to build out a network. Anyone with more brains than money should have seen that this couldn't possibly have been able to pay back the investment in terms of customer cash flow. The company was a "poster child" for the excesses of investment in the 90's: We'll build it because it's the "next new thing" and it doesn't matter that we can't see how it will make money - we'll get the customers hooked and figure out how to make money later." :roll: