Hi, I was in Christchurch's (New Zealand) CBD during the the recent earthquake. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Christchurch_earthquake) Fortunately my family and I and our homes are safe. Many were not so lucky.
It got me thinking, when the power goes out so does the Internet and it stays down (at least of you) until the power comes back. Even if the network is up if your equipment (eq wifi router, computer) has no power its still down for you. An IP network can be used for many methods of communication, web, email, IM, VOIP etc. A collection of solar powered WIfFi freedom boxes forming a mesh network out of the effected area would have many advantages. 1. If already in place the Internet stays up as long as you have power for you WiFi device(laptop/phone/game device). Which allows family and friend to find each other while staying off the overcrowded mobile phone networks. 2. If not already in place allows the Internet to be reestablished by bringing freedom boxes into an area long (days-weeks) before the power could be back up. Reestablishing communication networks is often very high for the civil defense agencies (eg FEMA-Federal Emergency Management Agency in the USA). 3. Having a working communications network makes everyone's life better during a disaster, help can arrive faster and be better managed. 4. Once you have a network, possibly high speed, many things are possible. Just like the real Internet. 5. Many others that I did not think of. I am asking that you take this into account when designing the software/requirments to allow for using the freedom box this way. It would be the ultimate in Internet freedom. No isp , no power, no problem - freedom box. It would be useful in other circumstances too, in repressive countries there would not be the liability of having it connected to someones power or Internet. Peter
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