New mobile system uses phones as middlemen

Sourced from ABC News, this is sure an interesting idea for the future of mobile infrastructure. I wonder what they think it'll be like in regards to signal strength, data transfer speeds, etc ... ?

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The developers of a new mobile phone system which transmits signals by jumping them from phone to phone to phone, rather than using towers, believe it could revolutionise communications in the bush.

Scientists at the Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre have designed a network where mobile phones work together to transmit calls.

The centre's chief executive, Mark Stafford Smith, says the technology should work better and be cheaper to set up than traditional mobile phone systems.

"[It] uses the different phones as the linkage, through from one phone to another to another to another to the person that you are trying to call," he said.

"The real value of this idea is that in remoter areas it's just not economically sensible to put in huge amounts of fixed infrastructure like big mobile towers and things like that.
"We expect to have some serious field trials later in the year."

It will start testing the system soon.