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I was just thinking about something really cool...

You know how Linksys boxes are using GPL open source code and all of those organizations are customizing the snot out of it making Linksys hardware into almost enterprise class gear?

When 802.11s is ratified, I'm guessing that these same organizations will likely start sticking some standardized code into these Linksys APs - or perhaps we'll get lucky and all of the SOHO vendors will start making mesh nodes for the SOHO. Now, think about this....

Let's say the Devinator has dual-oscillating 6Mx512k ADSL pipes on a cheap Cisco router acting as a load-balancer (total piece of cake to configure)...or perhaps I just get a cheesy Linksys load-balancing router for $300. Now, I have a HUGE pipe (12 Mbps for all practical purposes).

Anyone that has worked at an ISP like BellSouth, EarthLink, etc can tell you that MOST (likely more than 90%) of the bandwidth of the home user is TOWARD the user (which is the reason ADSL is so popular and cheap).

Now let's say that the Devinator sticks a mesh node on top of his house (or at least the antenna portion) and talks to his neighbors about spending a whopping $75 to do the same. The entire neighborhood suddenly thinks this is a great idea and the next thing you know, Devinator is an ISP. Devinator sticks in a NAS and gives everyone some network storage....Devinator VLANs all users so that everyone is protected from each other (easily done with any cheesy L2 switch). Anyone that wants in just pops up a mesh node and WHAMO - they're on. No more hub-n-spoke to someone's house...everyone down a linear street could me meshed in and providing services to the next guy down the block. It would grow like a virus.

Now THAT is some neat stuff. But hey, that's just me thinking out loud. :-)

Devinator