The Mobile Internet is just The Internet. The Internet is just the Network of Networks. Networks are just “computers connected to one another so they can send messages to one another”. “Computers connected to one another …” is just Ethernet.
The Mobile Internet I want is just Ethernet. Like WiFi. Like WiFi but with long-distance 5G radios in mesh networks. 5G radio mesh networks are a commodity. A commodity that should be a utility. Getting connected to a 5G radio mesh network should be as easy and safe as flipping the light switch or plugging a cord into an outlet. Buying connectivity to a 5G radio mesh network should as cheap as buying electricity.
Electricity is sold to you by the kilowatt-hour (kWh) at a price set by a utility regulator. Internet connectivity should be sold the same way. A Gigabyte-hour (GBh).
To get here, we need a 5G modem that isn’t also a computer, just like we have a cable modem that also isn’t a router.
So instead of a smartphone that integrates the 5G base-band system into a computer, if we break the 5G base-band system into a stand-alone modem that we then connect to over Ethernet or Wireless Ethernet gives us a simple, mobile, pluggable interface between our network and the 5G radio mesh network. We could further standardize the form of this radio so that it can be easily inserted into a car, but also be removed and carried around like a mobile hotspot, saving us the need to have multiple accounts to connect to the 5G radio mesh network. Lastly, we could give it an AirTag-like tracker in case we misplace it.
Next, because we don’t want the network provider to have access to our router or our wireless Ethernet access point, we need those functions in a form that we can put in our cars, homes, and to have with us on the go. This should have a standardized interface, it should be easy and idiot-proof, and it should be relatively indestructible. So let’s imagine that we can get all of the electronics for the 5G modem onto a circuit card about the size of a business card. Then we put that in a box the size of a deck of playing cards, with a bladed connector, like a game cartridge for an Atari.
Then we put a computer network in our cars, and add a socket for this cartridge to plug into the network and add some software to hot-plug the modem and zero-configure the network as it comes and goes.
For on-the-go, we could have a battery pack, wifi access point, and router in a small package with a socket for the cartridge, and the same software.
And at home, we can plug that same cartridge into a socket on our home network – positioned for convenience in the garage or the front hall – to add the 5G modem as a backup access path to the Internet.
