Bandwidth-sharing app brings connectivity to all

Maxed out on your phone's data plan? Stuck in a dead zone? Your neighbour can help. A new app lets users share mobile internet connections with anyone around them, helping the data-starved avoid roaming charges and steep overage fees. New Scientist reports.

Called AirMobs and developed MIT, the app shares a phone's data plan with others through the phone's Wi-Fi signal. For every kilobyte shared, AirMobs awards a data credit that can be used later.

"The idea is to extend the principle of 'give and you shall receive' to create an incentive for people to share their data plan," says Eyal Toledano at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who developed the app.

AirMobs aims to help users avoid high charges by connecting to the internet via the phones around them. In places where perhaps only one carrier has coverage, it can provide connectivity for all.

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emily | 8:48 AM | Technology |
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