Mesh networking is a type of network technology that uses local connections to transfer data. Imagine sending a simple photo to a friend who lives just down the street: with traditional networks, the data is sent across fiber-optic cables for many miles until it reaches the infrastructure of your internet service provider (ISP) who will then send the data all the way back to your friend's house. And that's assuming that you are your friend use the same ISP and there are no intermediaries (such as Facebook). With mesh networking, your home wireless router can communicate directly to your neighbors.

We view mesh network technology as an extension of the current internet infrastructure. It fills in many gaps that the traditional ISP-based service-model misses and has a number of advantages including speed, reliability, privacy, and net neutrality. And, if mesh technology is paired with the appropriate software, we can fundamentally change the way the internet is used today.

Local connections are almost always faster than long-distance connections. This makes mesh technology ideal for many short-range connections such as those involved in phone calls, streaming, city-wide LAN gaming, etc.

With the right software, it could become possible to stream that television show your neighbor watched last night from their TV to yours in the highest resolution at maximum speed, even in the middle of a storm where your internet is down. Or, on a bus as long as someone nearby has the same content cached on their mobile device.

Companies like Netflix know that local connections are faster. That's why they spend massive amounts of money paying for content delivery networks (CDNs) which host the content closer to the consumer. And, Netflix is already researching the same peer-to-peer technology that mesh networking provides.

Traditional internet connections do not always perform well in the cases we need them most. Storms, construction, natural disasters, technical errors, power outages, and more can interfere with our ability to access online services.

With mesh technology, if you and a neighbor have electricity, you have some amount of connectivity even in the worst situations. Combined with the right software, you can still enjoy many benefits of the internet while you wait for full service to be restored.

One reason to deploy mesh technology in your community is that it enhances communication in disaster response scenarios. Emergency responders need connectivity to coordinate their efforts just as individual citizens might use their connectivity to let their family know that they are safe or exchange information about where supplies are needed. Furthermore, mesh networks can provide access to survival guides and medical information as long as one person on the network has a copy or a copy can be imported.

With mesh networks, you rely less on centralized services such as Facebook and your ISP, which are known to harvest your personal data and tamper with your connections to violate your privacy. By utilizing proper encryption and reducing the role of centralized players, the risk of privacy violation is reduced. Furthermore, mesh networks empower communities to create the network they would like to exist rather than kowtowing to the interests of established monopolies.

Likewise, mesh networks better preserve net neutrality because you and your neighbors have no incentive to throttle connections to specific services. This technology places an important check on ISPs and allows you to retain access to these services even when ISPs throttle specific services.