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Drive-By Internet In Hard-To-Reach Places
oldwindways writes "The BBC reports that in developing nations where it is prohibitively expensive to install the infrastructure for wired internet connections, drive by wireless updates are becoming a popular solution to the demand for internet access. This sounds great for checking news updates, sports scores, and visiting your regular websites, but somewhat limited if you are trying to do basic research and don't know exactly where your search will take you. It is certainly an innovative solution to some of the problems encountered in tackling the digital divide, but what longterm effects might this model have on the development of a communications infrastructure?"
Buses equipped with wi-fi are being used to deliver web content to remote rural villages in the developing world.
They have wi-fi equipped buses in this country too. Actually, since PCI is a standard, you can equip it with a lot more than just that.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
These places typically have huge problems with keeping wired systems going. Poor roads & access make it hard to fix physical breakages. In many areas, copper phone lines get stolen on regular basis for sale as scrap metal. You can't steal the ether.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
Ok, I'll admit that was wrong. But seriously, this is not going to do anything but increase the demand for an actual internet connection. I promise, this guy delivering small doses of the internet by bus for a few rupees here and there is only creating a new market where almost none existed.
Sometimes the best solution is to stop wasting time looking for an easy solution.
Do not underestimate the bandwidth of a bus capable of carrying the entire internet.
liqbase
2 words, Customer demand.
They provide a service customers want.
Newspapers give a wide selection of articles because people are interested in different things, this service is just the same.
It says most users cannot read English, so the driver shows them and translates for them.
No wasted paper and a nice scalable infrastructure.
I wouldn't be surprised if this kind of service doesn't take off, there could be franchises all around.
Wouldn't be long term, but it would make money.
Congrats to the guy who put it together.
liqbase
you seem to have a bit of ping delay there...
-nB
whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
They got a bus called "Netti Nysse" at Tampere region Finland. The bus drives in two shifts during a day and is equipped with a bunch of computers, data projector (+other AV equipment) and 5 person willing to teach/help you for free, if you live at Tampere region. I think it has 8 stops where it connects to internet through wlan. Probably useful for kids and old folks.
that all vehicals should have a router and used in a flowing mesh type of network.
Use it as an addition to current infrastructure you could have a signal along any busy road in the world.
Mesh the world, if you put a sign up, put a solar power repeater there.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Doesn't this remind you about the early networks ? Think about the protocols that were designed for this sort of asynchronous all-terrain exchanges. This bus could be :
- Fidonet node
- NNTP server
- SMTP server
- POP server
- Mirror of many things
Protocols such as Fido and NNTP have been in use in an age of 300 to 9600 bps connexions and tape spool exchanged between sites. They would be right at home in this sort of bus !
Every day I get in the queue
(Too much, Magic Bus)
To get on the bus that takes me to you
(Too much, Magic Bus)
I'm so nervous, I just type and smile
(Too much, Magic Bus)
Your server is only another mile
(Too much, Magic Bus)
Thank you, driver, for getting my packets here
(Too much, Magic Bus)
You'll be a forwarder, have no fear
(Too much, Magic Bus)
I don't want to cause no fuss
(Too much, Magic Bus)
But can I buy your Magic Bus?
(Too much, Magic Bus)
Nooooooooo!
I don't care how much I pay
(Too much, Magic Bus)
I wanna drive my bus to the internet each day
(Too much, Magic Bus)
I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it
(You can't have it!)
Throughput and bandwidth every day
Just to drive to my ebay
Throughput and bandwidth each day
'Cause I drive my packets every way
Magic Bus, Magic Bus, Magic Bus
I said, now I've got my Magic Bus
(Too much, Magic Bus)
I said, now I've got my Magic Bus
(Too much, Magic Bus)
I drive my packets every way
(Too much, Magic Bus)
Each time I go a different way
(Too much, Magic Bus)
I want it, i want it, I want it, I want it
Every day you'll see the dust
(Too much, Magic Bus)
As I drive my packets in my Magic Bus
(Too much, Magic Bus)
This is a similar initiative in Sri Lanka but uses a three-wheeled motorbike, or 'tuktuk', one of the favoured forms of transport in that part of the world. A mobile phone is used for on-demand internet connectivity. Loudspeakers and a projector allow for a whole village to access the one computer and it also features an FM transmitter and radio 'studio' for mobile production and broadcasting of community radio. www.etuktuk.org
In any given community, only a few percentage of the people will come up with the clever way to change their environment for the better. Those people will use the internet bus to learn agricultural techniques to increase crop yields, the medical information they need to help their family and fellow villagers, and whatever else they need while the other 95% of the people will get their cricket scores. Indirectly, the sports fans will make the internet available to those who are using it to do the "useful" things you talk about. Of course, if the village pooled the money they were going to spend on sports scores they could send the braniac kid to the city to use the internet (or a library) and bring back all kinds of knowledge, but this way they also get the cricket scores. Everybody wins.
Anybody else miss the days before Cantor and Siegel?