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Google invests in Meraki’s mesh technology December 11, 2006

Google, one of FONs investors has also invested in Meraki Networks. Their mesh technology is based on a former MIT project (Roofnet project). Meraki offers both a mesh-enabled router (Meraki Mini) at $49.- during the beta program (around $100 thereafter) plus a mesh-network management software (hosted by Meraki) that enables organisations building up and managing WLAN networks easily and quickly. The big plus of a mesh network is that each node (router) can be access point and repeater at the same time and therefore not every access point needs an internet connection. In other words, in a perfect mesh network you could reach thousands of users via hundreds of meshed routers with only one connection to the internet. In reality, you probably end up connecting 10 - 20% of your nodes to the internet.

The Meraki-Mini looks pretty similar to the La Fonero and the single-chip controller is also manufactured by Atheros. Here are some specs (via Meraki Wiki):

180MHz MIPS CPU (Atheros AR2315 SoC)
8MB Flash, 32MB SDRAM
60mW 802.11b/g radio
External RP-SMA antenna connector, internal chip diversity antenna
10/100 Mbit/s auto-crossover Ethernet port
Headers for 3.3v serial port, GPIO pins
5.6-18V DC tolerance, for use in developing countries or with batteries
Power-over-Ethernet support (non-802.3af)
Includes 2dBi antenna and 7.5V DC power supply.

One of the great features is that you can power the Meraki-Mini over Ethernet. As stated earlier, I guess this technology would have been a great basis for FON as well and would help making the FON network more accessable and spread faster (one could apply for a free router in repeater mode if you lived in an appropriate location for example). Well, as Google is on board in both worlds we see what happens.

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Posted in : FON, Routers
Author : admin

Comments»

1. Pepe - December 11, 2006

Olaf:

From a user point of view, what would be more interesting to have?. I know that with Fon it would be possible to roam between nodes/cities/countries. It seems to me at first sight that with Meraki network coverage and deployment is far bigger in terms of locale coverage than Fon model.

What is your oppinion?

Pepe.

2. admin - December 11, 2006

Pepe,

I think from a user point of view it would also be advantagous to mesh the network as it gets more reliable and tighter. Sure, you still want all the FON features as well and roam for free wherever you are.

BTW, hope to see you on Skype again soon