Bandwidth For Bitcoin

For home use Internet Service Providers offer all-or-nothing connections, meaning you either have internet or you don’t. For those who work all day, and sleep at night, this connection is underutilized for the majority of the time.

Most coffee shops nowadays have wi-fi. As do hospitals, fast food restaurants, hotels, and a majority of commercial locations. Typically when a user connects to these hotspots a login screen appears for customers who have recently purchased something. With a little verification, they are ready to use the internet at their leisure.

BitMesh is attempting to merge these two situations. The platform lets homeowners leverage their existing internet connection, and supply service to neighbors and other people in the surrounding area.

“BitMesh is developing a platform to allow people to share their internet connection with peers in exchange for bitcoin”
— – BitMesh

Originally developed for Military use, mesh networks are decentralized and typically wireless. FireChat, a Mesh network based app originally designed for festivals, was widely used during the recent civil unrest in Hong Kong. Unlike WhatsApp and other messaging apps, FireChat doesn’t require an internet connection for users to communicate. Instead, it uses a phone’s Bluetooth and Wi-Fi signals to connect it to other devices within a given range. FireChat users can send texts and images under pseudonyms, a clear benefit for government-fearing protesters.

BitMesh, and FireChat, act as a type of  wireless ad hoc network (WANET). These Mesh networks don’t rely on pre existing infrastructure, such as routers in wired networks or access points for infrastructure networks. Instead, each node participates in routing by forwarding data for other nodes, so the determination of which nodes forward data is made dynamically on the basis of network connectivity.

In order to leverage home based internet connection, a raspberry pi is set up to be a server. When a user connects to the network they are presented with the same type of login screen you get at a coffee shop, called a captive portal. From here they can choose how much online time to purchase. After a quick Bitcoin transaction you are on the way, ready to use internet for exactly how long you need it – and not a second more.

“We became more interested in bitcoin and realized that the micropayment channel technology could allow people to pay only for the internet they use at very high resolution.“
— – BitMesh

CEO and Co-Founder Andrew Donley has worked with a variety of companies ranging from start-ups to giants, such as LG and Samsung. BitMesh CVO and Co-Founder Chris Smith has co-founded 2 other bitcoin operations as well as an educational gaming company.

The two met while working together at an R&D consultancy sharing a focus on compression and decompression algorithms. Donley has a patent pending for an algorithm that handles gzip 4-8x faster than traditional methods. They also had an interest of cryptocurrency in common, which became the clear choice for micropayments in their new joint venture.

“Bitcoin is not only ideal technology – it is essential for BitMesh to function. The availability of micropayment channels affords connected peers to buy and sell internet a granular level in a secure, trust-less manner without the need for a third party or escrow.”
— – Andrew Donley, CEO and Co-Founder BitMesh

BitMesh not only seeks to provide a smarter solution to providing internet service but also to bring bitcoin more attention. With such a novel solution to an area with rather limited options in the past, people will be inclined to go use a simple exchange and get bitcoin of their own to micropay for internet.

Ideas such as this are in line with the wave of sharing culture that has been making a broad sweep across the world recently with Uber, AirBnB leading the charge. The platform allows people to connect with each other for services rather than using established corporations, which are often pricey due to their hold on the market.