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WolrdSpace is still left and they are international

Asia has Worldspace as its (only) satellite radio provider. Its quite good, and it has a American coverage too.

Ifaik its broadcasted from Washington.

Internet in Africa is flaky at best. I work on a project called RANET . It is an effort of serveral partners (ACMAD , NOAA, and USAID to name a few) to make climate and weather related information more accessible to rural populations and communites.

We use the Worldspace Satellite system to send climate information in HTML format (it's a 1 way digital radio system, that when hooked up to your computer, acts as a modem). The villages get the information, then in turn translate it to the local language. We have set up low power FM radio stations and then they broadcast the updated data over the radio waves. Wind up radios made by Freeplay have been given to the villages, and they can tune in to the broadcast, and find out if some of the local watering holes have dried up for example.

I was over in Niamey, Niger a few months ago training users from Ghana, Niger, Chad, and other african countries how to code HTML so then those local countries can upload their climate information to us so we can send it over the satellite system.

We ran into some interesting problems concerning the interent. The local internet provider charges by time spent on the internet. Well, since they understand they can make some money by doing this, they actually slowed down everyones internet speed so they would be on the net longer, and be charged more. When a local person complained about this, not only did they turn off his phones and internet at his workplace...they turned off his phones and internet at HIS HOUSE.

Have you Americans never heard of WorldSpace, a digital satellite radio service that we've had for some time now?

One interesting concept of Satellite Radio is that it is possible to transmit data channels. Yes, this means that it is possible to transmit web pages and the like through satellite radio.

If you have a portable satellite radio (for example Hitachi worldspace digital receiever) you can get an adapter for it that will allow you to connect it to a computer and have it act as a modem. I believe it transmits at about 64k, slightly better than a 56k.

We are actually using this system where I work to transmit climate information to rural communites in africa (who then can translate the information into the local language and broadcast it over FM radio..pretty cool, and extremely useful).

We partner with the Worldspace Foundation to provide this information over the satellite data stream.

I is also the Worldspace Corporation (different than the foundation), but related.

So I wonder if XM and Sirrus have something like this up their sleeve. (I'm not sure if the systems are similiar or not)

These satellite channels are coordinated and agreed upon by the WRC (kind of like the UN of radio frequency coordination).

WorldSpace has a cool PC card that plugs into your laptop. That will probably be the device the hackers start with for pirate decoding boxes for the US - as the frequency bands are the same.

These satellite channels are coordinated and agreed upon by the WRC (kind of like the UN of radio frequency coordination).

WorldSpace has a cool PC card that plugs into your laptop. That will probably be the device the hackers start with for pirate decoding boxes for the US - as the frequency bands are the same.

If it's a non-profit of some resources, you might look at VITAsat, run by Volunteers for Technical Assistance. If your problem were running the other direction, I would suggest Worldspace, which sells some nifty satellite radio receivers specifically for the developing world. They offer data downlink through their receivers, but I don't think they've figured out the uplink part yet. But I know they've been investigating options, including Iridium, so it might be worth watching them.

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A couple of people have mentioned Worldspace already. Worldspace is a satellite radio venture based out of Washington, DC, that aims to bring radio to developing countries, where many people live outside the range of conventional broadcast radio. In addition to the audio stream, there are data channels as well, opening some interesting possibilities for alternatives to traditional Internet access in the developing world.

Worldspace has two satellites in place and broadcasting, covering Africa and Asia. A third and final satellite, covering Latin America, either is about to launch or is about to begin broadcasting (I can't remember which).

The problem with Worldspace is getting a receiver. The low-end ones started at $350, which many people rightly pointed out was out of the reach of many of Worldspace's intended customers (though one often finds dirt-poor villages have at least one gigantic color television, so that was not necessarily an insurmountable barrier). The advertised prices recently came down to about $125-$175, which leads me to wonder if the company is in trouble.

I live in Cairo, which has been in the footprint of Worldspace broadcasts for over a year, but I can't get a receiver to save my life. I was willing to blow the $350, but the sets aren't sold here and the company is consistently unresponsive to queries about alternative sources. (I even ordered one online from their website, but can't get them to confim, deny, or fill the order).

The company claimed there were initial production problems, because the chipsets and everything had to be done custom. But the lingering distribution problems have not been adequately explained, and I can't imagine that bodes well for the venture.

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Although not really being pushed in the UK, it is in the Afristar footprint. Slightly less advanced than the system in the article, fixed position recievers with an antenna that has to "see" the sky (thick walls means no signal). Sound quality is fairly impressive through the optical out, with stations using between 16-128kbps, easily equivalent to FM stereo on the music stations.

They are also pushing some data applications on the website, but no sign of the need accessories yet.

Cheaper than any of the terrestrial digital recivers around at the moment (Sanyo was only 100 UKP), might make a nice replacement for that Multiband radio, that you take away on holiday.

Although not really being pushed in the UK, it is in the Afristar footprint. Slightly less advanced than the system in the article, fixed position recievers with an antenna that has to "see" the sky (thick walls means no signal). Sound quality is fairly impressive through the optical out, with stations using between 16-128kbps, easily equivalent to FM stereo on the music stations.

They are also pushing some data applications on the website, but no sign of the need accessories yet.

Cheaper than any of the terrestrial digital recivers around at the moment (Sanyo was only 100 UKP), might make a nice replacement for that Multiband radio, that you take away on holiday.

Although not really being pushed in the UK, it is in the Afristar footprint. Slightly less advanced than the system in the article, fixed position recievers with an antenna that has to "see" the sky (thick walls means no signal). Sound quality is fairly impressive through the optical out, with stations using between 16-128kbps, easily equivalent to FM stereo on the music stations.

They are also pushing some data applications on the website, but no sign of the need accessories yet.

Cheaper than any of the terrestrial digital recivers around at the moment (Sanyo was only 100 UKP), might make a nice replacement for that Multiband radio, that you take away on holiday.

The WorldSpace consortium is mostly targeting the international market but it will have some coverage in the US.

Unlike some other proposals, it's not a pay-per-listen service - no encryption or anything.

The transmission format will be MP3. It would be interesting to rip one of their receivers, interface it to a PC and record MP3 off the air...