"Android phones are connecting without carrier networks"
 

https://www.networkworld.com/communi...rrier-networks

"The Smart Phone Ad-Hoc Networks (SPAN) project reconfigures the onboard Wi-Fi chip of a smartphone to act as a Wi-Fi router with other nearby similarly configured smartphones, creating an ad-hoc mesh network. These smartphones can then communicate with one another without an operational carrier network. SPAN intercepts all communications at the Global Handset Proxy (see figure at right) so applications such as VoIP, Twitter, email etc., work normally.

The source from the Linux Wireless Extension API was merged into the Android kernel source and compiled. The modified version of Android was used to root specific models of Android smartphones to expose and harness the ad-hoc routing features of the onboard Wi-Fi chip to enable this intercept."

Nice find .. it's amazing how quickly technology can change under us. The security implications might require some work to mitigate though. Connecting to a SPAN could increase your attack surface significantly, thinking along the lines of dns poisoning/MitM, VOIP call interception, credential exposure, activity monitoring ..etc.

@kbp Thanks, I find the concept of "ad-hoc" mesh networks interesting from a survivalist viewpoint. Don't get me wrong, I don't go around yelling "The sky is falling". That being said a little "prepping" can be fun.

More open source "open mesh" using OpenWRT firmware:

"These are the release notes for Commotion Router v1 "Grumpy Cat", available for download now. This is the first full version of the OpenWRT-based firmware for the Commotion project, which is intended to make it easy for communities to build their own communications technology and to serve as a platform for the development of novel and secure communication tools."

https://commotionwireless.net/

In a similar way my cheap nokia windows phone can select wi-fi over cell and also function as a router. The apps would already select the wi-fi to wifi and if an app didn't get connected, it would use normal cell.