Ask HN: Using wifi AP in ad-hoc allow free mesh network?

[eridal]

I'm reading the 802.11 specs and it seems that our wifi AP could be used in ad-hoc mode, which makes them open to connect to devices and other AP, which end up in an mesh network.

I cannot understand, if this tech is already on our homes, why are we not using it yet?

There has to be some down side.

References:

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_ad_hoc_network

[wmf]

Let's say Alice can hear Bob and Bob can hear Charlie, but Alice cannot hear Charlie. AFAIK, in ad-hoc mode Alice and Charlie cannot communicate. You'd need a real mesh (like 802.11s) where Bob would relay packets (and destroy his own performance and battery in the process). Then there's the 1/7th problem that hasn't been solved to my knowledge: http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/papers/grid:mobicom01/paper.pdf

[opless]

Everyone's internal ip range is likely to be similar.

192.168.[0|1|2].0/24 or 10.[0|1].[0|1].0/24

There are some projects that hold a registry of internal ips, for example: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/ucgi/~ijackson/cam-grin?li...

If we all were on ipv6 it might help, but meh.

[_lce0 → opless]

Thant's true!

I can see the problem: wifi ad-hoc does not play well with a private DHCPs on every home.

But given that with ad-hoc all nodes (AP and devices) become part of mesh network, do we need a traditional DHCP?

Also, we need to have huge host network while having small broadcast domains .. not sure which class-type better fits