In my area there is a wireless MAN. Many people have low bandwidth ADSL connections. Is there a way to do the following:
for each one to use his/her connection and if there is free bandwith from the other connections, use that too?

I personally don't know a lot about this, so please be specific. For example, it is said that a proxy can do this; is this true? Has anybody tried something like this? Any links would be useful too.

Thanks

Well I can't say anything for certain, though logic would dictate, that the ISP wouldn't allow that too happen, otherwise the smart person who knew how to do that would be using bandwidth that someone else if paying for, wouldn't they.

The actual receive portion of the ISP hardware, might be able to handle many hundreds of connections at once, but they will only supply a certain amount back - i.e. One of the main methods of making charges for the system is only allowing a certain speed, if you want faster you have to pay more or they let you access as fast as your kit can handle, but they limit the amount you download - if you want more, then they charge you more.

Sorry if that doesn't answer your question in the way you mean, but I thought it is the answer to what you asked.

regards

John

Sorry bigjohn, i will probably have to clear things out- thanks for the answer anyway.
Many nodes/persons connected on the wireless MAN have their own ADSL connections. For example, i want to update my mirror at night, but my bandwidth is not enough-or i am just in a hurry. I'd like to be able to use my bandwith, plus any unused bandwith of a node near me.

Someone else wants to download a video in the afternoon, but he/she is also in a hurry; he uses his own bandwidth plus any unused bandwith from his/her "neighbor".

bigjohn: We will use the existing bandwith, which our ISP provide, no more no less.

Don't be afraid; express any exotic scenarios that you have in mind.

Sure I understand that different country's (and/or ISP's) all having different ways of allocating and charging for bandwidth.

I just find it difficult to follow this specific model i.e. if the ISP, supplies X amount of bandwidth to a MAN, then surely those of you who connect to that MAN then pay for a specific portion of that X bandwidth so you are charged for your (or Y) amount???

Because even if the X value of bandwidth from ISP was supplied to MAN/node or whatever, and you just happen to use your Y amount plus (lets be original and call it Z) the Z or unused amount of X (unused for whatever reason), then surely the ISP, would want to bill you for the use of Y + Z, and accordingly, if you have a neighbour who normally pays for the Y portion of the X bandwidth, but doesn't use it all, say the price for Y, minus 50%, they would want to pay less when they use less, and of course the ISP would want to you to pay for the normal Y that you're allocated, and also the 50% of your neighbours Y bandwidth that you've used and not your neighbour.

See what I mean, by being a little confused by this??

Of course, I fully appreciate that lots of places, have lots of different business models. Most of which may, or may not be better than the ones that we usually end up with in the UK (my sister used too live in Madrid for some years, and when she explained how they are charged for public utilities i.e. gas, electric, water, etc etc, some were definitely better charging methods, some the same - but strangely enough, none of them were worse - suprise, suprise).

Ha! In any case, I can't think of how you might accomplish this with software alone. Surely anyone, who is connected via the MAN, is also connected via username/password or something similar, so they'd have to have someway of allocating spare/unused bandwidth to your account/login ???

regards

John

Hi Bigjohn,
first- the wireless MAN has nothing to do with ISPs; people have setup routers on their block of flats and created a backbone, on the backbone there are access points, where clients connect.

second- i refer to the backbone level- not the client level; i have a router too on the top of my block of flats.

third- the owners of the routers, who have ADSL connections, have purchased their connections from many different ISPs.

fourth- there won't be a charge between us.

Oh right, that makes sense. So basically, you'd all have to have logins to each others routers then ?? Plus, how would you know when the person with "spare" bandwidth has finished with it for the day ??


From your description nocturna_gr, it sounds like it should be possible, but definitley an administrative nightmare.

I'm thinking, that you'd have to have the logins, then someway of establishing that the person whose "spare" bandwidth you want to use has finished, plus, if the ISP's have like a cut off time for daily bandwidth allowances e.g. like say 1 gig per day, but the "day" runs from 0001 to 2359 or something like that.

Possibly a few other snags that could be thought up without much difficulty.

Hell, if you could manage to sort that lot, _I'D_ buy the drinks

Sorry if I sound like I've been wasting your time. I just was interested in what you were actually trying to achieve - Now I understand.

regards

John

p.s. I also presume that you aren't looking for an "easy life" then Good luck.