Joi Ito says that an experiment to test Bluetooth over 1 km was a success:
…With a slight cable modification, this test shows that, based on previous research in the area, bluetooth functions (and exploits) can now be performed from distances thought to be impossible.
If it’s true and capable of being used commercially, it could be very worrying indeed for network operators. It means in theory, that messages and voice calls (their major revenue sources) could be made locally, free.
And if you take a meshing scenario, it would be very scary indeed. Meshing (simplistically) is if I want to call someone 5 KM away, my Bluetooth phone contacts another within 1KM, which contacts another, which contacts another and so on - until I am connected to the person I really want to talk to.
Again, in theory, meshing with long range bluetooth could put the operators out of business.
And ironically, they let Bluetooth onto the phones in the first place. A bit like inviting a stranger in a mask and a stripey jumper to look after your house while you pop out for an hour. Oh and he’s carrying a bag marked “swag”.
I’ve been predicting the rise and rise of Local Free Messaging (LFM) for a couple of years now. It’s already happening via Bluetooth and Infrared with kids. Longer range solutions like this could really make things happen.
In theory… but has anyone delivered a working meshing infrastructure yet? We’ve had the opportunity to build one for years using fixed locations and wi-fi (check out the consume.net folks) and afaik it still hasn’t been done with sufficient QoS to match conventional GSM/GPRS/3G networks.
Doing it with mobile will be even harder - thanks to battery life limitations and all the nodes constantly moving. I don’t think we’ll see meshing on phones yet until these problems are solved. Why should I let complete strangers run down my battery when I’m out and about? Who can I complain to if my calls keep cutting out because Fred, 2 hops down the line, is on a train going through a tunnel?