Goals of a MetropolitanAreaNetwork
There are several competing but mostly complementary goals for a MAN. They reflect different philosophies of what community wireless is all about, but in the long run can likely all be implemented at the same time, albeit with significant complexity.
ManOverlay: allow existing Internet users to create a backchannel to share information among each other
ManSharing: using existing Internet connections to 'unwire' other users while giving them Net access
ManRoaming: enabling wireless devices to roam all over the city while remaining connected to the Net
The order in which we attempt to solve these different problems depends both on which ones we think are mort important, and which ones form the basis for others. The overlay network will likely be the first to be implemented, because it forms the backbone for the other two uses.