JOSEPH BONICIOLI mostly uses the same internet you and I do. He pays a service provider a monthly fee to get him online. But to talk to his friends and neighbors in Athens, Greece, hes also got something much weirder and more interesting: a private, parallel internet. He and his fellow Athenians built it. They did so by linking up a set of rooftop wifi antennas to create a mesh, a sort of bucket brigade that can pass along data and signals. Its actually faster than the Net we pay for: Data travels through the mesh at no less than 14 megabits a second, and up to 150 Mbs a second, about 30 times faster than the commercial pipeline I get at home. Bonicioli and the others can send messages, video chat, and trade huge files without ever appearing on the regular internet. And its a pretty big group of people: Their Athens Wireless Metropolitan Network has more than 1,000 members, from Athens proper to nearby islands. Anyone can join for free by installing some equipment. Its like a whole other web, Bonicioli told me recently. Its our network, but its also a playground. Indeed, the mesh has become a major social hub. There are blogs, discussion forums, a Craigslist knockoff; theyve held movie nights where one member streams a flick and hundreds tune in to watch. Theres so much local culture that they even programmed their own mini-Google to help meshers find stuff. It changes attitudes, Bonicioli says. People start sharing a lot. They start getting to know someone next door—they find the same interests; they find someone to go out and talk with. People have fallen in love after meeting on the mesh.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 17:03:28 +0000