Wi-Fi Routers Could Become Emergency Backup Networks in a Pinch

Mobile phone and Internet networks sometimes get overloaded, especially in case of an emergency, and though it doesn't happen often enough to be a great concern, it is sufficient grounds for seeking a way to, as it were, fix the problem.

Some towns and cities may have an easier time establishing a “backup” solution, provided its citizens agree to their routers being accessed by third parties, or the authorities as the case may be.

A team of scientists from the Technical University in Darmstadt, led by Kamill Panitzek, believe that the Wi-Fi routers are in such a high numbers, in certain cities/towns and countries, that they could easily become a backup network in case the main one failed.

Just from walking around their city center, the researchers detected 1,971 routers, 212 of which were public (non-encrypted), in an area of just a square kilometer.

The main purpose of enabling a router-based Wi-Fi network would be to let firemen, ambulances and other emergency services receive, make and reply to urgent calls in case some sort of disaster happens and causes many emergency requests to be made at the same time.

There wouldn't even be a concern for privacy. The routers would have a “guest” mode that a single switch would be able to trigger remotely, when required.

“The emergency switch would enable an open guest mode that on the one hand protects people's privacy, and on the other hand makes the existing communications resources available to first responders,” says the mathematical published in the International Journal of Mobile Network Design and Innovation.

“With a communication range of 30 meters, a mesh network could be easily constructed in urban areas like our hometown.”

Of course, there is also the question of what will stop hackers, and others, from misusing routers if they began to be designed with back doors of this kind. If someone figured out how to activate the network, they would have a means where they could wreak all the havok they wish while staying completely anonymous and outside the notice of routers' owners.