Bitcoin brings needed peer-to-peer payment system to mesh networks

Mesh networking technology has long promised to solve the problem of Internet providers charging users for their services. The networking technology brings with it mature routing technology that has driven the development of many of the world's largest mobile companies, and the technology was originally used by the military for battlefield communications.

ISPs offer all-or-nothing connections, meaning you either have the internet or you don’t. For people who work during the day and sleep at night, this type of connection makes the most of the time. Mesh networks allow homeowners to take advantage of their existing internet connection and provide service to neighbors and others in the surrounding area.

From a more strictly technical perspective, the end-user mesh model enables peer-to-peer networks to be formed between client devices. The lack of network infrastructure means that this model can build high-performance and scalable broadband networks at a very low cost. As users join the network, the Internet service provider will increase network coverage and network throughput.

FireChat is actually one of the most well-known mesh networks. This peer-to-peer network of mobile phone applications does not use Internet access and does not use cellular data. Even in the face of natural disasters and intentional Internet service outages, FireChat is able to keep users connected to each other without using a central service such as an Internet Service Provider (ISP).

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Successful mesh networks like Firechat have proven that there is definitely a market demand for this technology. - Konstantin Dukakis, founder of wifiportal21"

Among the many attempts at mesh networking technology more broadly, the best example is currently Guifi.net. Its peer-to-peer connection with Catalonia only requires a commercially available hardware router, and the rest is completely free. Guifi.net has now interconnected three continents, allowing more than 32,000 households to share a wide area network connection, such as an ISP connection, and there is no cost to each other.

Brooklyn Mesh is a free network covering Manhattan and surrounding areas. Although it is much smaller than Guifi, it still has many people willing to participate in this volunteer project.

Hyperboria, formerly known as Meshnet, is a European project that aims to unify different mesh networks. It is currently seeking a good solution to make different routing protocols developed for specific networks compatible with each other. Through this reform, Hyperboria will enable Guifi users to communicate with Brooklyn Mesh users.

Even if the hardware cost per household was as low as $30-90, in line with current home router prices, this still caused many projects to hit a wall over the past few years. Since there is no monetary incentive for users to share broadband with others, the business model of free access has become a major inhibitor.

Brooklyn Mesh website says;

If you're close to someone or can ask someone if they can share the internet with you, give it a try, we encourage people to share the internet with their neighbours."

“Micropayments” have provided a solution for years and have been built into the web as we know it. These small payments, usually worth less than a dollar, are used to sell online content, such as a link or a download, to consumers.

In 1996, the payment response code was added: "HTTP status code 402". In 1999, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) completed the micropayment link integration specification. "We believe that users should use the same user interface as regular website content, so that they can pay a smaller amount for certain content or services, just by clicking a hyperlink.

The idea is that it could replace the traditional subscription model, such as the one people use with their ISP. The idea is that users pay for content when they need it. The advent of Bitcoin has made a micropayment system available, quietly ushering in a new era of payment for mesh networks.

A half-dozen projects have launched in the past few years that are advancing the decentralized internet of micropayments and are increasingly attracting new users. A handful of crypto-currency-powered networks, such as BitMesh, BEWP and BitcoinWifi, seek to allow entrepreneurs to set up Wi-Fi hotspots and accept Bitcoin in exchange for setting up Wi-Fi.

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Bitcoin is not only a desirable technology - it is also essential to the functionality of BitMesh. Micropayment channels allow a wide range of users to buy and sell in a secure, trusted manner without the need for a third-party escrow service. - Andrew Donley, co-founder and CEO of BitMesh"

Andreas Antonopoulos, author of a popular Bitcoin-themed book, has also developed a Bitcoin WiFi portal project called wifiportal21. The code was originally developed for use in 21 Inc.’s Bitcoin computer, and several developers have used the code for their own projects. Antonopoulos told BNC:

“This is a limited proof of concept.”

Antonopoulos explained:

“The project is an interesting proof of concept that helps with Bitcoin API, 21 API and micropayments, but it does not generate real revenue. At the same time, they have not found any customers willing to pay for this service.”

Antonopoulos elaborated:

“The peer-to-peer nature of the mesh concept requires a peer-to-peer payment system, perhaps Bitcoin or a Bitcoin equivalent, but Bitcoin is the only one that is suitable because it is the most widely used cryptocurrency.”

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Paid mesh networks require a centrally adopted payment mechanism (like Bitcoin) and geographic information. This makes it very hard to bootstrap. Even in close proximity, you need Bitcoin users and access points to provide Bitcoin services. There are no such centralized locations except in very few areas. —Andreas Antonopoulos"

In August, developer Konstantin Dukakis created a Wifi Portal indexing app using 21’s Bitcoin Computer and Andreas Antonopoulous’ wifiportal21 code. He agrees with Antonopoulos that the reason why the project hasn’t become mainstream in the space is that bitcoin payments aren’t yet a mainstream, everyday transaction.

The only project currently associated with the Bitcoin Wi-Fi Portal on Github is Biternet. This proof-of-concept project was written by Renlord N. Yang, a student at ETH Zurich.

Yang successfully set up the workgroup node, and he concluded:

“Whether Biternet can be a simple and easy-to-configure network node depends on the hardware used to provide network services.”

The Biternet white paper states:

“The only requirement for participating in Biternet is a network device for ad hoc networking. Otherwise, other network interfaces are available.”

“Each node works at a peer-to-peer level, which is not strictly required, but Internet access is essential. Bitcoin payment channels facilitate micropayments, which makes it possible to charge end users of network nodes based on data usage at a granular level.” - Renlord N. Yang