BANDZ"Decentralizing the internet and expanding its reach"

There is currently a rising level of computerization, computer networking and the use of internet in todays world. The internet has become an integral part of our daily lives and is the backbone that allows the web to exist. There is a growing concern for individuals, companies, corporate organisation and countries to be hooked up to the internet. Many business exist and thrive all thanks to the internet. But, with all its benefit there is still significant limitations in the areas of security, lack of internet infrastructure in underdeveloped areas, management of bandwidth etc.

The internet has a hierarchical architecture. At the top of this hierarchy are the internet service providers (ISPs). ISP's is an organization that provides individuals or corporations access to the internet. The ISP's have succeeded in centralizing the internet.

In addition to centralization, the ISP's have limited reach. Due to their limited reach the internet cannot be accessed in some remote places. However, with the blockchain technology these limitations can be addressed and solved to bring about a robust and decentralised system of internet technology.

Bandz Network

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Bandz network is a global P2P extranet exchange powered by the blockchain. Bandz aims to transform the internet service provider industry from a business into a decentralized global protocol. Bandz aims to make internet connections secure, cheap, and accessible over wider areas as well as make it available to areas that are underdeveloped. The internet is at the core of globalization and is measured in bandwidth. In most cases, individuals and organizations have no control over the usage of their bandwith but with the Bandz network system individuals and organizations can have control over how they use their bandwidth. Bandwidth is being offered to users by the internet service providers and the problem with ISPs is the high operational cost and the inability to access the internet by the users once one leaves the locality coverage of the ISPs. The Bandz system software will foster collaboration between different ISPs so that users can access the internet internationally while being tied to their providers.

MESH NETWORKS

Mesh networks are groups of smart devices connected to each other’s Wi-Fi to improve internet range and accessibility. A lot of remote areas are not profitable enough for ISPs to setup their services. Therefore, without a mesh network there would be congestion of all these smart devices on the wireless services. However, with Bandz internet devices of all sorts would connect directly, dynamically, non-hierarchically and cooperate with one another to route data from/to clients through several nodes. Information will be relayed effectively because of lack of dependency on one node and this will help in expanding the internet to underdeveloped areas.

VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORKS

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VPNs were developed to allow users to secure their communication and hide their identity to access different sites. There are misconceptions about VPNs being used for illegal and devious activities which is wrong. With VPNs, the website or any other 3rd party will not be able to capture the personal information or details of the individual. VPNs provide users with alternate IP addresses for cloaking their identities so as to have internet freedom. Decentralizing VPNs will make them highly secured and also reduce the friction currently present to novices in accessing the technology.

ROTATING PROXIES

Unlike VPNs that provides users with an alternate IP address, rotating proxies provide the user with a list of IP addresses and randomly sieve through them each time a user access a site. This will help make sure users are not easily identified by web servers and in some cases provide a defense against data analytics that can track one regardless of the alternate IP address.

INTRANET AND EXTRANET

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Intranet is a private network that does not allow access to users outside of the network. In an organization, wide range of information and services are available which are not available to the public, unlike the internet. While an extranet are intranet that allows access to authorized set of customers to information without granting full access to the organizations entire network. Intranet and extranet can be used by a company to facilitate cooperation and collaboration with another company. They also allow companies to connect with customers in a more controlled setting than the internet. But with Bandz each user node can be treated as its own contained intranet and the user node can provide services to other users by treating all other nodes as an extranet.

P2P FILE TRANSFER SYSTEMS

P2P is the transfer of files using the peer to peer technology and it generates most of the upload traffic over the internet. This system is very prone to bad performance because of supply and demand misalignments. Bandz employs the use of metered extranet which will allow users monitor the bandwidth of specific files.

USE CASES

Roaming
Imagine a situation where you travel to a foreign country. Normally, access to internet is restricted by geographic locality. As a foreigner and you want to access the internet, you need to buy a new sim card and roaming fees are very expensive. But with Bandz, you can connect to the network and surf the internet at an affordable price.

Bandwidth monetization
A scenario where Emeka a Nigerian and a graduate was sent to a remote village for his national youth service. His colleagues are not happy and frustrated due to limited internet access in this area.
Emeka connects to the Bandz network and shares his internet with his colleagues in exchange for Bandz tokens which can either be sold or to purchase bandwidths when the need arises.

Conclusion

The internet technology has grown in leaps and bounds but with its centralization on the ISPs, it has a lot of limitations.
Bandz aims to address these limitations through its software. It aims to solve the issue of bandwidth management, access to remote areas, use of rotating proxies, end to end encryption of user personal details and monetization of bandwidth.