Real-World Economics
Mehr doesn't exist in a vacuum. It interacts with the existing internet economy — ISPs, cloud providers, and the people who pay for connectivity today. This page examines what happens when a mesh network meets existing infrastructure economics.
The Apartment Building Scenario
Consider a typical apartment building in Denmark:
Current model:
50 apartments × 200 kr/month = 10,000 kr/month to ISPs
Average utilization per connection: <5%
Each apartment has its own router, its own subscription, its own bill
Mehr model:
2-3 gateway nodes with internet subscriptions = 400-600 kr/month to ISPs
Gateway nodes share internet via WiFi mesh to all 50 apartments
Other 47 apartments pay gateway operators in MHR
ISP revenue from building: drops ~94%
Why This Works
Residential internet connections are massively over-provisioned. A 1 Gbps connection serving one household averages under 50 Mbps actual usage, and most of that is concentrated in evening hours. The infrastructure exists to handle peak load, but sits idle the vast majority of the time.
With Mehr, 2-3 well-placed gateway nodes with good internet connections can serve an entire building. The gateway operators earn MHR from the other residents — effectively becoming micro-ISPs within their building.
What Happens to ISPs?
Mehr doesn't kill ISPs. It restructures them.
| Today | With Mehr |
|---|---|
| ISPs sell per-household subscriptions | ISPs sell per-building or per-community connections |
| Revenue depends on subscriber count | Revenue depends on bandwidth sold |
| Last-mile infrastructure to every apartment | Last-mile to building entry point; mesh handles internal distribution |
| ISPs handle per-customer support | Gateway operators handle local support |
| ISPs own the customer relationship | The community owns its own network |
The key insight: ISPs already don't want to be last-mile providers. Last-mile infrastructure (running cable to every apartment) is their most expensive, lowest-margin business. Mehr handles last-mile distribution through the mesh, letting ISPs focus on what they're actually good at — backbone transit and peering.
ISPs would likely respond by:
- Offering building connections — one fat pipe per building at a higher bandwidth tier
- Pricing by bandwidth consumed, not by connection count
- Becoming backbone providers to Mehr gateway operators
- Running their own Mehr backbone nodes to earn routing fees
The Math for Gateway Operators
Gateway operator costs:
Internet subscription: 200 kr/month
Hardware (Pi 4 + LoRa + modem): ~300 kr one-time (~25 kr/month amortized over 1 year)
Total: ~225 kr/month
Gateway operator revenue:
~47 apartments paying for shared internet
If each pays 50 kr/month equivalent in MHR: 2,350 kr/month
After subtracting costs: ~2,125 kr/month profit
Resident savings:
Was paying: 200 kr/month
Now paying: ~50 kr/month in MHR
Saving: 150 kr/month (75% reduction)
Both sides win. Gateway operators earn significant income from hardware they'd have anyway. Residents save money. The only loser is the ISP's per-household billing model — which was always an artifact of last-mile economics, not actual cost.
How You Earn on Mehr
Every node earns proportionally to the value it provides:
Relay Earnings
The simplest way to earn. Any node that forwards packets for non-trusted traffic participates in the stochastic relay lottery. More traffic through your node = more lottery wins = more MHR.
Relay earnings estimate (at ~5 μMHR expected reward per packet):
Minimal relay (ESP32 + LoRa): ~5,000–50,000 μMHR/month
→ ~30-300 packets/day, zero operating cost (solar powered)
Community bridge (Pi Zero + WiFi): ~50,000–500,000 μMHR/month
→ Bridges LoRa to WiFi, moderate traffic
Gateway (Pi 4 + cellular): ~500,000–5,000,000 μMHR/month
→ Internet uplink, high-value traffic
Backbone (mini PC + directional WiFi): 5,000,000+ μMHR/month
→ High-throughput transit between mesh segments
Storage Earnings
Nodes with disk space earn by storing data for the network via MHR-Store:
- Store popular content that others request frequently
- Host replicated data for availability
- Cache content for faster local access
Compute Earnings
Nodes with CPUs or GPUs earn by executing contracts and offering inference via MHR-Compute:
- Run MHR-Byte contracts for constrained nodes
- Offer WASM execution for heavier workloads
- Provide ML inference (speech-to-text, translation, image generation)
Gateway Earnings
The highest-value service. Internet gateway operators earn from:
- HTTP proxy services
- DNS relay
- Bridge traffic between mesh and internet
- All of the above, plus relay/storage/compute earnings
What Makes a Node Valuable?
The marketplace naturally prices capabilities based on scarcity and utility:
| Factor | Effect on Earnings |
|---|---|
| Connectivity | More links = more routing traffic = more relay earnings |
| Location | Strategic position (bridge between clusters) = higher routing value |
| Uptime | 24/7 availability = more agreements, better reputation |
| Storage capacity | More disk = more storage contracts |
| Compute power | GPU = high-value inference contracts |
| Internet access | Gateway capability = premium pricing |
| Trust network size | More trusted peers = higher credit lines, more routing |
Broader Economic Implications
For Developing Regions
In areas with no ISP at all, Mehr enables community networks from scratch:
- One satellite or cellular connection serves an entire village via mesh
- The gateway operator earns from the community
- Community members earn by relaying for each other and for outsiders
- Economic activity within the mesh is free (trusted peers)
- External connectivity costs are shared, not per-household
For Urban Areas
In cities where internet is available but expensive:
- Shared internet connections reduce per-household costs by 50-75%
- Local services (storage, compute, messaging) run on the mesh with no cloud dependency
- Community infrastructure becomes an income source, not a cost center
For Censorship-Resistant Communication
When governments control the internet:
- The mesh operates independently of ISP infrastructure
- Even if internet gateways are shut down, local communication continues
- Gateway nodes with satellite uplinks or VPN tunnels become high-value — and the market prices them accordingly