Yes. You can actually buy pairs of antennas (basically an AP pair) that do just that. The only downside is that the signal quality varies based on weather.
If you want something more or less weather proof, you can get microwave P2P links that run in licensed bands and you don't get any signal interference from similar nearby antennas.
Both WiFi and Microwave equipment act just like bridges and you can connect them to a switch or router.
I live in a country where you can get 10Gbps fiber for ~ 10EUR. And one 1Gbps for the same money if they don't have coverage for the 10G.
And, having worked with the US providers all I can tell you is this: greed, and lots of it. And if they're the only option in an area, they will charge you a literal arm and a leg.
Just a small example: in a mall, there was a single provider Paid ~ 300USD for 5Mbps in 2024. Once we were able to upgrade the equipment and get a cell router, we got to pay about $50/mo for ~ 50-60Mbps. Mall provider not happy.
There is mothing to be gained politically by doing this. You think you look good if you say “hey, the Poles had this really good idea, how about we do the same”?
Plus, the process is something like:
- we want to do $something
- hire consultants to help us define $something and produce a document
- hire other consultants to write the specs for the project
- launch an RFP
- select a winner
- wait for the implementation to finish
All the proposed solutions will be something paid, ideally made by a really large company to lend it credibility, and with maintenance costs that justify hiring dedicated people for it.
In the end no one gets what they want.
You think if there was any will wouldn’t the whole EU use whatever the Estonians are doing very well?
How is the Estonian system now? I remember when I visited around 2010 our host just had a quite simple smart card reader and could just use it to sign in to government services with their ID and as far as I remember even sign mails and documents. Germany of course could not use normal smart cards but had to use NFC cards with special readers and made the signing feature and additional service you had to pay for on a yearly basis. Of course the Germans system did not went anywhere for years. I do have a reader now and can use it for some governmental services and have very limited appetite to bind the ID to my phone.
Ukraine also seems to have solved this pretty well. NFC in the plastic card, selfie video confirmation, etc.
Hungary is also rolling out a "digital citizenship" app. (Also can be bootstrapped via newer plastic cards, so no need to visit the government office.)
And what attestation services does your web app use? Do we lock that web app behind having Secure boot enabled, along with a Java applet for the fun of it?
My business, no. Your government however, has a few reasons to want to ensure that the ID you're going to use to vote, to prove your identity to any service, etc, etc, does not get passed from device to device.
Configure your phone however you want, then use your physical ID because your phone isn't supported. They're not taking it away. In the same way that you can file your taxes. Having an online filing service doesn't mean you're being "excluded" because your i386 running BeOS isn't part of the supported hardware. Send a letter. It'll still work.
I second the question, attestation of what? I have a Solo key that I use with webauthn for several services already. Is that not good enough and even if not, there surely are sufficient alternatives, least of all the actual electronic id on the national id card via nfc?
If you want something more or less weather proof, you can get microwave P2P links that run in licensed bands and you don't get any signal interference from similar nearby antennas.
Both WiFi and Microwave equipment act just like bridges and you can connect them to a switch or router.
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