21Vianet, a Chinese Internet company, is set to unveil a cellphone network in Hong Kong early next year that will use an innovative trick to speed up data downloads. The technology, an implementation of a technique known as mesh networking, enables a phone with a poor data signal to borrow the connection of a nearby handset with a stronger signal by linking with it over Wi-Fi.

Having devices share bandwidth can boost the download speeds by 50 per cent or more, according to M87, the Austin, Texas, star-up behind the technology. This could be especially useful in situations where cellular signals are weakened, for example, when someone is using a phone indoors, or in the shadow of a skyscraper. M87 said two U.S. mobile carriers looking for ways to improve their mobile data coverage are also evaluating the technology.

The company raised $3 million in investment earlier this year, including from its Hong Kong partner 21Vianet and from leading mobile chip company Qualcomm.

There's just one catch to this altruistic sharing of bandwidth: a device that donates its connectivity to another uses some of its battery life doing so. M87 CEO David Hampton said the penalty is small, and that a device will likely be configured to only share its connection if it has more than 60 per cent of its battery life remaining.

A common scenario in which the technology could help would be a person at the back of a coffee shop, indicated Hampton. His or her phone could improve its data downloads by linking to the device of someone near the window, with a better signal from the nearest cell tower. Inside a building, devices can link up over distances of around 30-50ft; outside that jumps to as much as 180ft, said Hampton.

M87's technology requires a mobile carrier to pre-install software onto handsets sold for use on its network. That software runs in the background and constantly monitors a device's data signal while looking for nearby devices with the same software.

Carriers can tune the exact rules for when a device will link up with another. Hampton said that M87's recommended settings would mean that on average devices expended 10 per cent or less of their battery helping others in a given day. The company also recommends that carriers offer a way for people to opt out of their device participating. M87's software is only available for Android devices.

Pan Hui, a computer science professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, said the technology looks feasible but will comes with challenges. One is ensuring that one person's data remains secure as it passes through other devices, something M87 said it can do using encryption.

Another perhaps bigger challenge is making people comfortable with the idea of their personal device being recruited to help out their service provider and its other customers. People may ask themselves, "Why would I spend my battery and bandwidth to relay your traffic?" said Hui.

Hampton stated that users will have to adjust, but said mobile carriers who adopt the technology will be strongly motivated to find ways to make the technology appealing to their customers, whether through marketing or perhaps offering benefits to people that stay opted in.

By: DocMemory
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