olpc-mesh
é uma rede mesh sem fio desenvolvida pelo MIT para o Um projeto Laptop por Criança . Citando a Wikipédia:
An MIT Media Lab project has developed the [OLPC which] uses mesh networking (based on the IEEE 802.11s standard) to create a robust and inexpensive infrastructure. The instantaneous connections made by the laptops are claimed by the project to reduce the need for an external infrastructure such as the Internet to reach all areas, because a connected node could share the connection with nodes nearby.
Quanto ao motivo do uso desse tipo de conexão, consulte a mesma página da Wikipedia ou este