Global Access to the Internet for All J. Saldana, Ed.
Internet-Draft University of Zaragoza
Intended status: Informational A. Arcia-Moret
Expires: January 2, 2016 University of Cambridge
B. Braem
iMinds
E. Pietrosemoli
ICTP
A. Sathiaseelan
University of Cambridge
M. Zennaro
Abdus Salam ICTP
July 1, 2015
Alternative Network Deployments. Taxonomy, characterization,
technologies and architectures
draft-irtf-gaia-alternative-network-deployments-01
Abstract
This document presents a taxonomy of "Alternative Network
deployments", and a set of definitions and shared properties. It
also discusses the technologies employed in these network
deployments, and their differing architectural characteristics.
The term "Alternative Network Deployments" includes a set of network
access models that have emerged in the last decade with the aim of
bringing Internet connectivity to people, using topological,
architectural and business models different from the so-called
"traditional" ones, where a company deploys or leases the network
infrastructure for connecting the users, who pay a subscription fee
to be connected and make use of it.
Several initiatives throughout the world have built large scale
alternative Networks, using predominantly wireless technologies
(including long distance) due to the reduced cost of using the
unlicensed spectrum. Wired technologies such as fiber are also used
in some of these alternate networks. There are several types of
alternate networks: community networks, which are self-organized and
decentralized networks wholly owned by the community; networks owned
by individuals who act as wireless internet service providers
(WISPs); networks owned by individuals but leased out to network
operators who use them as a low-cost medium to reach the underserved
population, and finally there are networks that provide connectivity
by sharing wireless resources of the users.
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The emergence of these networks can be motivated by different causes
such as the reluctance, or the impossibility, of network operators to
provide wired and cellular infrastructures to rural/remote areas. In
these cases, the networks have self sustainable business models that
provide more localized communication services as well as Internet
backhaul support through peering agreements with traditional network
operators. Some other times, networks are built as a complement and
an alternative to commercial Internet access provided by
"traditional" network operators.
The present classification considers different existing network
models such as Community Networks, open wireless services, user-
extensible services, traditional local Internet Service Providers
(ISPs), new global ISPs, etc. Different criteria are used in order
to build a classification as e.g., the ownership of the equipment,
the way the network is organized, the participatory model, the
extensibility, if they are driven by a community, a company or a
local stakeholder (public or private), etc.
According to the developed taxonomy, a characterization of each kind
of network is presented in terms of specific network characteristics
related to architecture, organization, etc.
Status of This Memo
This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
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This Internet-Draft will expire on January 2, 2016.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2015 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
(http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1. Traditional networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2. Criteria for the classification of Alternative Networks . 5
1.2.1. Commercial model / promoter . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2.2. Goals and motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.2.3. Administrative model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.2.4. Technologies employed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.2.5. Typical scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2. Classification of Alternative Networks . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.1. Community Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.1.1. Free Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2. Wireless Internet Service Providers WISPs . . . . . . . . 10
2.3. Shared infrastructure model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.4. Crowdshared approaches, led by the people and third party
stakeholders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.5. Testbeds for research purposes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3. Scenarios where Alternative Networks are deployed . . . . . . 15
3.1. Digital Divide and Alternative Networks . . . . . . . . . 15
3.2. Urban vs. rural areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.3. Gap between demanded and provided communications services 18
3.4. Topology patterns followed by Alternative Networks . . . 18
4. Technologies employed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.1. Wired . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.2. Wireless . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.2.1. Antennas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.2.2. Physical link length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
4.2.2.1. Line-of-Sight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
4.2.2.2. Transmitted and Received Power . . . . . . . . . 20
4.2.3. Media Access Control (MAC) Protocols for Wireless
Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
4.2.3.1. 802.11 (Wi-Fi) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
4.2.3.2. GSM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
4.2.3.3. Dynamic Spectrum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
5. Upper layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
5.1. Layer 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
5.1.1. IP addressing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
5.1.2. Routing protocols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
5.1.2.1. Traditional routing protocols . . . . . . . . . . 25
5.1.2.2. Mesh routing protocols . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
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5.2. Transport layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
5.2.1. Traffic Management when sharing network resources . . 26
5.2.2. Multi-hop issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
5.3. Services provided . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
5.3.1. Intranet services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
5.3.2. Access to the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
5.3.2.1. Web browsing proxies . . . . . . . . . . . . . .