It's like you're shouting so loud that
no one else can carry on a conversation."
"So why don't you just use my network? I want to be able to get online
anywhere in the Market, but that means that anyone can, right?"
The crusty-punk waved his hand dismissively. "Sure, whatever. But what
happens if your network gets shut down? Or if you decide to start
eavesdropping on other people? Or if someone wants to get to the printer
in her living room? It's no good."
"So, what, you want me to switch to focused antennae?"
"That's no good. If you used a focused signal, you're going to have to
be perfectly aligned if you're going to talk back to your base, so
unless you want to provide a connection to one tiny pinpoint somewhere a
couple kilometers away, it won't do you any good."
"There's no solution, then? I should just give up?"
The crusty-punk held up his hands. "Hell, no! There's just no
*centralized* solution. You can't be Superman, blanketing the whole
world with wireless using your almighty antennaprick, but so what?
That's what mesh networks are for. Check it out." He arranged the beer
and the laptop and the coffee cup so that they were strung out along a
straight line. "Okay, you're the laptop and I'm the coffee cup. We both
have a radio and we want to talk to each other.
"We *could* turn up the gain on our radios so that they can shout loud
enough to be heard at this distance, but that would drown out this guy
here.
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