I was Googling on how to create your own wireless hotspot for a project of mine (email me with thoughts), and I came across a neat hack from Popular Science Magazine. There hack was to buy some gear, stick it in a backpack, and BE your own hotspot.
What if you could marry the short-range power of Wi-Fi with the huge coverage areas of high-speed cellular services such as EV-DO to create a portable hotspot? You could use any Wi-Fi-enabled gadget anywhere you’ve got a cell signal. […]Those are exactly the kinds of things you can do with the backpack below.
It’s not a cheap hack, by any means, and there aren’t lots of folks who have this particular itch to scratch, but here are some thoughts on how it could be useful:
- Marketing Scheme- Stand in a public space wearing a big sandwich board sign saying, “Free WiFi Courtesy of ______.”
- Unconference Event- Hold your next BarCamp or Mashup Camp or what-not wherever you want with wifi for all.
- Field Teams- The hack costs about $900 or so all told, but that’s way cheaper than a satellite van or other remote location setup. This would be the perfect relay station for a new media team like a Vlogger team looking to emulate citizen media.
- Instant Phone Bank- add Skype to a few laptops with wifi cards, and you’ve got a phone bank for events, for emergency management situations, etc.
What other ways could you see this hack being useful?Be Your Own Hotspot – [Popular Science]
