Rural areas to receive broadband boost

The BBC is reporting that rural areas could come in for an internet boost with plans to increase Wi-Fi signal to maximise availability of broadband access to those who live in the country. Although this initial news piece may not directly affect you at home now, unless your one of our few farmer readers, the upgraded Wi-Fi networks could bring with it the introduction of ‘Mesh Networks’ into Britain’s towns and cities.

Already in most of Britain’s towns there are Wi-Fi hotspots, most commonly found in coffee cafes and libraries but with the introduction of a mesh network users would be able to roam freely around the city with constant access to the internet. Imagine, Bit-Tech access from no matter where you are in the city! Brilliant.

With Ofcom combining with UK based Wi-Fi firm ‘The Cloud’ the initial signs are positive. In various cities across the US the effort to increase internet access is well under way however at the moment a similar service in the UK would be too expensive to justify. Digital Lifestyles reports:

Selina Lo, chief executive of home Wi-Fi antenna firm Ruckus explained, "With lower power you have to use a lot more access points to form the network. A typical network will have hundreds or low thousands of access points. If you have power limits, these nodes have to be closer together and you need a lot more nodes.”

However the future does look positive. Selina Lo’s company Ruckus is developing a new enhanced Wi-Fi antenna that would make city wide networks financially feasible in this country:

"People running city networks know that the Wi-Fi in customers' home equipment is not powerful enough to do an outdoor long range connection….our device is designed to bridge that connection."

Do you think the rollout of mesh networks is feasible in cities? Let us know over in the forums.