With the success of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program, interest in one of the key features of the project, wireless mesh networking technologies has dramatically increased. This technologies radically changes norms of network topography and enables increased internet accessibility in inaccessible areas. In a typical end-user network, individuals access the internet via a gateway at their internet service provider (ISP). Their connection to the ISP is direct and there is no connection to other users directly. This typical topography is known as a “Star” network To access the internet then, end users would need a direct connection to the ISP gateway so, for the wireless internet example, they would have to be within the range of a wireless access point. With wireless meshing, internet users are able to connect not only to the gateway wireless access points, but also to other wireless users within signal range. This means that user A need only be close to another user B who has access to a wireless access point to gain access to the internet and that user A need not actually be in range of the gateway himself. This has tremendous applications in rural areas like those designed for the OLPC, however, there are clear disadvantages to the technology.

There are clear advantages and disadvantages to each network topology. Performance is one of these major considerations. In a “Star” network, the Internet Service Provider (which usually ahs a high bandwidth connection to the internet backbone) is only a distance of 1 away from each user. In the mesh network, the ISP may be several hops away and the data would have to pass through many low-bandwidth users to reach the destination. There is also the problem of network routing. Determining the best possible route through the mesh to the internet becomes challenging. Network security also comes into question. On a “Star” network, all data is passed immediately to the, usually trust-worthy, ISP, whereas in a mesh environment data must pass through potentially untrustworthy users along the way. These considerations weigh heavily on the future of wireless mesh technology.

It is clear that, in third-world environments and applications designed for the OLPC, incorporating wireless mesh technologies is a major advantage. Until these technologies can be spread into the mainstream and incorporated into existing infrastructure, certain design limitations must be addressed. Though most of these limitations result from the network topography itself, more sophisticated mesh routing algorithms and increased network size could potentially benefit the success of the technology.