Can we create a connection to the internet ourselves without having to use a cellular 3g/4g subscription / wifi subscription?
In: Technology
First we have to understant what the internet acctually is. The thing that we call internet is the connection between at least 2 devices. Wifi is just emmited from a router, witch is connected with cables to the carriers infrastructure. Mobile data is just your device connecting to a local tower owned by the carrier of choice. Its similar to the way calls work. But instead of dialer apps and phone apps we have web browsers and other apps that want to “make a call” to another computer. When you try to call someone, you connect to the closest carrier tower, witch makes a temporary connection to the closest to your target tower, witch connects you to your target. With that layer of abstraction in mind, lets look at the internet. Your web browser “calls” for example shmoogle.com, and they start talking to eachother. Shmoogle sends you the way the UI looks, you tell the browser your question, and the browser sends that to shmoogle. Shmoogle sends you back what is essentially a list of phone numbers. if you click on one, your browser will redirect you to, for example, wikipedia.com. This website, witch is in fact a computer running all night and day waiting for someone to call it, will not send you a list of phone numbers, but instead some text. and youtube will send you videos etc… Not only web browsers can make phone calls, every app can. your p2w mobile game app calls its main computer whitch remembers how much shiny gems you got, the reddit app sends you your feed, your custom reddit client like infinity will connect to the official reddit servers too.
So, to answer the question. Yes, there are easy ways to create local off the grid communication systems /see [this](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3sYP19Ts48w) video explaining how to set up piratebox/ that can vaigly be called internet, and there are ways to make a long range off the grid communication systems similar to piratebox, but thoose networks will be seperated from the globaly used internet. you cant connect to reddit thru this network and the internet wont be able to connect to you too. If you actually make your own network that you will be able to connect to from around the world, and find people who actually want to connect to it, you can make it free, you can charge for entry as you please and that can be a way to create a second internet. But as long as the sites of interest like wikipedia and youtube and reddit are not willing to make a mirror to their service connected to that network, nobody will want to connect to it.
Yes. In fact most businesses do this and call it an intranet. Some hobbiests do it over radio waves with HAM radio or WiFi.
All you need is a way for the computers to connect to each other. You just setup a little infrastructure and you have your own internet. Now the downside is that it can’t access the rest of the internet so the only websites/etc available are those you’re hosting on your private internet.
You can do this at home. Unplug the internet connection to your router. Now all of the devices on your network can only talk to each other. You now have a very boring internet. Enjoy communicating with your printer.
Yes. The internet is “just” a bunch of protocols used to commuicate between computers. In Germany there’s [Freifunk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freifunk), in NYC there’s [NYC Mesh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NYC_Mesh). The idea is using WiFi (and in Germany partially microwave links) to create a decentralized network independent of ISPs.
You can, it will just be extremely, extremely, extremely, expensive.
You’d have to setup all the hardware and contract all the private lines to a big colocation house.
So yes. It’s technically possible. It is just prohibitively expensive.
You could setup a network of packet radio modems/computers via shortwave radio.
Or
You could setup a mesh network of XBee Pros connected to computers that have up to a two mile range each outdoors.
>Can we create a connection to the internet ourselves without having to use a cellular 3g/4g subscription / wifi subscription?
Well, there is one other way to do this: Be an ISP. Run your own lines to nearby homes and businesses, and gather enough money that you can negotiate with one of the companies that run the internet (called Tier 1 ISPs) to sell your new company a direct hookup to their own network. Then you can charge your customers a monthly rate for your service.
[Here](https://www.allconnect.com/blog/can-you-become-your-own-isp) are a [couple](https://startyourownisp.com/) introductory sources on the matter. In short, yes, you can make your own ISP. WISPs are common due to necessity, but it’s not the only way, provided you get legal rights to lay cable, or you buy already existing dark fiber. Your area may already have an ISP with what is essentially a legal monopoly, in order to “recoup” the costs of deploying what they argue is an essential public service, which they also have complete control over… [Here](https://blog.thelifeofkenneth.com/2017/11/creating-autonomous-system-for-fun-and.html) is a blog from a guy who did it just for fun, but his is a different kind of ISP.
There are several different questions you could be asking. I’ll try to answer all of them.
– *Can I connect to the Internet without paying somebody a monthly fee?*
No.
– *Can I connect to the Internet without using a radio?*
Yes, but you’ll still have to pay an ISP every month.
If you don’t want to use a 3g / 4g / 5g cellular connection, you can get Internet from a cable or DSL provider in most places. You still have to pay for this subscription.
If you don’t want to use Wifi, you can connect your device to your router with an [Ethernet cable](https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16812119992?Item=N82E16812119992) instead.
Most desktop PC’s and many laptops have built-in Ethernet connectors. You’ll need an Ethernet adapter for your phone, tablet, etc.
– *Can my friends and I create our own network?*
Yes.
You don’t have to pay anyone a monthly subscription to connect computers together. (You still have to pay for parts and electricity, of course.)
You can connect multiple computers together using Ethernet cables to connect them to a switch or router. You may need to make some simple changes to the OS or router’s networking settings.
You can even get rid of the cables if you use a Wifi router.
The catch is that the computers have to be physically connected with Ethernet cables, or within a few dozen feet of a Wifi router.
So for example, if you wanted to visit your friend’s website, you’d need to have your friend physically bring a computer over to your house. Your friend would need to run their webserver software on that computer. You could visit the website running on the computer in your house.
There’s a lot of different server software these days. So you can create a network with websites, chat, downloads, and so on. All running on computers in your house.
There would be no possibility of connecting to Reddit, Google, Facebook, and so on. Because those websites are running on computers you’re not connected to, outside your house.
If you wanted to connect your network to computers in different houses, you’d have to physically connect a wire between the houses. This might be feasible to do with your next-door neighbor if you’re willing to spend a couple days digging a ditch, putting the cable in it, and figuring out how to safely drill a hole in the wall to get the cable inside each house.
If you’re talking about multiple friends in different locations, you’d have to get a bunch of government permits and pay millions of dollars to run a miles-long cable through a bunch of different properties you don’t own.
Get an on off switch. Two lanes of communication choose a medium. A set of standards and protocols. Some packet layering and protocols to help with loss. Easy peasy. Or just vote and advocate for the end of ISP network monopolies. And vote for and advocate for expanding existing networks to areas that do not have internet access. Or invest in starlink.
Latest Answers