Hong Kong protestors are connecting and communicating with one another without the need for cellular or Wi-Fi networks.

Instead, they're using an app called FireChat. The app launched last March and is supported by a concept called mesh networking.

Mesh networking is defined as nodes connected to one another. These are then configured to allow connections to be rerouted around broken or blocked paths, with the signal moving through different nodes until it reaches its destination.

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In this case, the mobile phones of protestors are coming together and creating a temporary kind of internet. Each phone acts much like a router, expanding the signal and reach of the internet connection.

Between Sunday and Monday, the app was downloaded 100,000 times. It's particularly useful in the event of natural and political disasters since it doesn't rely on existing cable or wireless networks.

In Iraq for example, the government has hindered communications by the public to interrupt ISIS communications, as well. This led Iraqis to get FireChat.

In Beijing, student leaders continue to recommend FireChat, fearing the government may take away communications as they push for choosing the next leader of their city by democratic means.

Open Garden, the company that created FireChat, has bigger plans for mesh networks, which are essentially self-healing, resilient systems.

Mesh networks are not controlled by any organization, which means it's always running and can't be shut down.

Christopher Daligault, Open Garden's vice president for sales and marketing, says that in two years' time, people won't even remember what it was like to look for cellular or internet signals. 

TagsHong Kong, FireChat, occupy central, Mesh networks