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Tokyo has 20 times as much WiFi as it needs

theregister.com

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Re: Tokyo has 20 times as much WiFi as it needs

#41

Post by senttoschool »

lordnacho wrote: post #12

Can't help but think this could be done without some Ethereum smart contract. Then again I also get the feeling this project would not get any attention without it. Isn't BT WiFi something in the UK like this? When someone has a BT router in their home you seem to be able to connect to it via the phone app.

The problem with many non-Silicon Valley regions (countries), is that many of them don't understand software technology. Politicians and investors in those countries simply ride the hype wave. If Ethereum/blockchain is a hot topic, they will ask to include that piece of tech.

You can see this in Singapore as well. The government there tried to use Ethereum to verify government documents: https://www.verify.gov.sg/

It's a bad idea. Slow. Much more costly. No benefit. Hard to scale. Downsides to tech flexibility.

Re: Tokyo has 20 times as much WiFi as it needs

#42

Post by ranger_danger »

yoavm wrote: post #7
rjh29 wrote: post #4

I am in Japan and when my mobile net has run out I've had to use public wifi for a day or two and it's not a pretty picture. I find I can barely connect after multiple tries and they drop out frequently, and often have time limits like 20 minutes on them. Usually I get a sim from the airport vending machine, or for longer trips go to Yodobashi/Bic Camera and get one, you can get 30GB for less than the cost of a month…

I don't know how it works on iPhone, but on Android you can easily get a new mac address and get additional 20 minutes. Settings > Developer Options > Wi-Fi non-persistent MAC randomization. Then just forget the network and reconnect.

If the backend to their hotspot system uses any kind of fingerprinting scheme, changing the MAC won't help you.

Re: Tokyo has 20 times as much WiFi as it needs

#43

Post by oefrha »

jorvi wrote: post #40
josephg wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its the same in all big cities. From my kitchen I can see 23 other access points in the list. I'm sure we could pool our internet & wifi if we could coordinate, but coordination is too hard. Given how saturated the spectrum is, its remarkable how reliable wifi has become. I get occasional dropouts (maybe once or twice a day for a few seconds) but otherwise my connection is rock solid. And this is all over 802.11ac -…

5GHz doesn’t have the collision problem of 2.4GHz because it weakly propagates through brick and concrete.

It does have the problem of weakly propagating through brick and concrete within your own home. Without a mesh you end up with blind spots even in a medium-sized apartment.

Re: Tokyo has 20 times as much WiFi as it needs

#44

Post by bwesz »

traceroute66 wrote: post #21
sekh60 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really thought we all got off the blockchain bandwagon.

So did I, so did I ... ;( I still have memories of people like lawyers desperately asking me how they could use blockchain in their practice.

Chuck could have used the blockchain to store the Rosella Drive address so it couldn't be tampered with. (This is only half a joke.)

Re: Tokyo has 20 times as much WiFi as it needs

#45

Post by oefrha »

NoZebra120vClip wrote: post #30

I live in a high-density multi-family apartment block. 300 families in a small space. There are probably at least 300 SSIDs being broadcast in this area, plus Bluetooth and other noise. This is a low-income joint, so amenities are comparatively minimal, but there's just no excuse for not forging a deal with one of the local ISPs and having their WiFi/Ethernet to blanket the property, convincing residents to shut thei…

> convincing residents to shut their personal ones down in favor of a robust replacement.

You would soon be looking at oopsies like mirroring onto someone else’s TV, or a bored teenager hacking into everyone else’s “smart” Internet of Shit devices. WPA2 personal just isn’t secure for shared residential use.

Re: Tokyo has 20 times as much WiFi as it needs

#46

Post by andylynch »

iraldir wrote: post #2

"Not even the mighty power of blockchain can erase all of those issues" Maybe it's a good thing if journalists are replaced by AI after all...

The Register is never going to be a cheerleader. They have running jokes about how Apple won’t return their calls because they are too critical. Their tagline is “Biting the hand that feeds IT” and the Vulture logo is quite deliberate. Also the BOFH is possibly their longest running segment!

Re: Tokyo has 20 times as much WiFi as it needs

#47

Post by sgerenser »

creshal wrote: post #37
josephg wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its the same in all big cities. From my kitchen I can see 23 other access points in the list. I'm sure we could pool our internet & wifi if we could coordinate, but coordination is too hard. Given how saturated the spectrum is, its remarkable how reliable wifi has become. I get occasional dropouts (maybe once or twice a day for a few seconds) but otherwise my connection is rock solid. And this is all over 802.11ac -…

> And this is all over 802.11ac - which is super old at this point. Most consumers never upgrade their router, and even if it fails, telcos often send them old and outdated replacements. There's a lot of networks around that are still stuck on older technologies.

True about never upgrading the router, but I really can’t imagine any cable/telco sending out anything older than 802.11ac at this point. Why would they, it’s just going to cause complaints about “you sold me 100mbit but I’m only getting 33 mbits [on my old 802.11n router]!”

Re: Tokyo has 20 times as much WiFi as it needs

#48

Post by NoZebra120vClip »

oefrha wrote: post #45
NoZebra120vClip wrote: post #30

I live in a high-density multi-family apartment block. 300 families in a small space. There are probably at least 300 SSIDs being broadcast in this area, plus Bluetooth and other noise. This is a low-income joint, so amenities are comparatively minimal, but there's just no excuse for not forging a deal with one of the local ISPs and having their WiFi/Ethernet to blanket the property, convincing residents to shut thei…

> convincing residents to shut their personal ones down in favor of a robust replacement. You would soon be looking at oopsies like mirroring onto someone else’s TV, or a bored teenager hacking into everyone else’s “smart” Internet of Shit devices. WPA2 personal just isn’t secure for shared residential use.

I know it's far from perfect. But there has got to be an answer for it. Because everyone running their own WAP is a massive duplication of resources, it's literally a waste of power citywide, every's got a separate ISP bill, and it's clogging the airwaves, making everyone's reception quite lousy in the process.

Multi-family apartments have communal services on purpose. We have a central A/C chiller. We have communal laundry rooms, not machines in every unit. Our hot water heating is done centrally. We have maintenance men on staff for repairs. Subcontractors serve the entire property through deals with the landlord, not individual units.

I get that people like to customize and trick out their own networks, but we're a community of sysadmins. My neighbors are not, and I'd bet you that misconfiguration is the norm for personally-managed networks. There is a better case for single-family homes doing it, but apartment dwellers should not be running their own ISPs.

Re: Tokyo has 20 times as much WiFi as it needs

#49

Post by creshal »

sgerenser wrote: post #47
creshal wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And this is all over 802.11ac - which is super old at this point. Most consumers never upgrade their router, and even if it fails, telcos often send them old and outdated replacements. There's a lot of networks around that are still stuck on older technologies.

True about never upgrading the router, but I really can’t imagine any cable/telco sending out anything older than 802.11ac at this point. Why would they, it’s just going to cause complaints about “you sold me 100mbit but I’m only getting 33 mbits [on my old 802.11n router]!”

Usually the reply is "we sold you 'up to' 100 mbits, on ethernet, sucks to be you" anyway. And the telcos are emptying their stockpile of old crap before they order slightly less outdated models from the lowest bidder.

Re: Tokyo has 20 times as much WiFi as it needs

#50

Post by TrapLord_Rhodo »

traceroute66 wrote: post #17
kwhitefoot wrote: post #5

Why does this need a blockchain? Fon/BT has been sharing residential WiFi for years without blockchain.

> Why does this need a blockchain? Fon/BT has been sharing residential WiFi for years without blockchain The difference is, as per the article, that the Japanese operator wants to re-imburse the WiFi hotspot subscriber. Something which is very much alien to BT's way of thinking. Of course, whether blockchain is the right way do implement that aspect is a different question, and in terms of implementation I would agre…

> I would agree that blockchain is un-necessary.

Blockchain is an easier buzzword to convey than 'Distributed ledger'. Distributed ledgers long predate BTC, but it is one of the things that make a 'blockchain', a 'blockchain'.

They don't require a system with it's own set of tokenomics, decentralization, Proof of work... it will be a centralized distributed ledger for managment and visibility of the network; i.g. a blockchain.

the 'blockchain'

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