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Ask Slashdot: Could We Reconnect Eastern Libya?

Posted by timothy on from the who-is-this-we-paleface? dept.

GrumpyBagpuss writes "We all know that the internet is supposed to route around damage, but currently eastern Libya is off the net because all their connectivity goes through Tripoli. How difficult would it to be to reconnect eastern Libya via a microwave link to Crete? It's less than 200km away, on the Libyan end there are mountains up to 850m and on Crete they're higher than 2000m. People have achieved distances of over 300km with simple WiFi equipment, but would it be possible to increase the bandwidth to handle a whole, or at least half a country? How would you connect the link at both ends? What other problems would there be? How many Pringles cans would we need?"

12 of 290 comments (clear)

  1. Is it worth it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    While the Internet played a huge role in relatively developed Egypt, it might be worth pointing out that less than 7% of Libya's population has Internet access, and most of those people are in Tripoli.

    While there are surely isolated pockets of connectivity in the Western parts of the country, the usage is minimal and may not actually have a great impact on this revolution.

    Just a thought....

  2. Not sure this is the time to work on internet by daninaustin · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's turned into a civil war. It might be better shipping the rebels AK's, anti tank weapons, man portable SAMS and lots of ammunition. Sat phones would be nice for communications but I'm not sure twitter and facebook are really all that important anymore.

    1. Re:Not sure this is the time to work on internet by Zapotek · · Score: 5, Funny

      You know...the guys in Crete can help with that too... (This joke would kill in Greece)

    2. Re:Not sure this is the time to work on internet by AffidavitDonda · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Starting with WWII every single war of the 20th/21th century was won with the help of computers and communication. Its not about propaganda, but to allow rebels to exchange important strategical information.

    3. Re:Not sure this is the time to work on internet by maverickapollo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The "Civil" part.

    4. Re:Not sure this is the time to work on internet by BasilBrush · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Ghandi took India back from the British without any weapons.

      America supplying weapons into the worlds trouble spots has rarely produced a good result. Take your Texas solutions and stick them up your ass.

    5. Re:Not sure this is the time to work on internet by Elldallan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yes because the British would rather loose India and maintain somewhat good relations with the new country than to massacre the rebellion and alienate a sizable part of India. despite this it took Gandhi and his likes some 30 to 40 and two world wars years to accomplish this.
      Muammar Ghaddafi has already shown that he is very much willing to use whatever force necessary to keep himself in power.
      The two situations are simply not comparable, it would be more along the lines of trying to convince someone like Joseph Stalin to step down trough peaceful non-violence demonstrations.

  3. Satellite perhaps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why bother with microwave links, cables, mountains, etc. when you can drop a few hundred satellite modems with wifi. I guess they have satellite dishes already, all they need are a modem and an omnidirectional antenna in each neighborhood.

    1. Re:Satellite perhaps? by ogl_codemonkey · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah, +1 Ask The Right Question... A fixed microwave station on the side of a mountain is an obvious and easy target for anybody looking to suppress the flow of information. Satellite phones, like cell phones, typically function as modems as either a configurable menu option; or via Plug-n-Pray USB. Couple of hundred dollars plus the plan, and you can stash it in a book, rock, or body cavity. Seems a lot easier and less risky (in an "if-we-see-you-subverting-us-we'll-shoot-you" way) than whatever it is the OP is implying.

    2. Re:Satellite perhaps? by grcumb · · Score: 4, Informative

      Why bother with microwave links, cables, mountains, etc. when you can drop a few hundred satellite modems with wifi. I guess they have satellite dishes already, all they need are a modem and an omnidirectional antenna in each neighborhood.

      BINGO

      More importantly, modern VSAT equipment is moderately portable (e.g. in a small vehicle). You can break it down in about 10 minutes and set it up again in about 20. Perfect for the rebel/journalist/activist on the move. You can buy complete systems (dish, modem, switches, software etc.) for less than US$5000.00. Add a couple/three 12 dBi wifi panels and you can service a fairly large area, depending on your location. Power requirements are low enough that you could run most of it from the battery of the truck you're transporting it on.

      (Yeah, I've looked into this stuff in the past while doing consulting work in the developing world....)

      --
      Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
  4. TSFI already deployed a team by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Télécoms sans Frontières already deployed a team to the libyan-tunesian border.
    http://www.tsfi.org/en/action/emergencies/147-tsf-deploye-a-la-frontiere-tunisielibye
    Consider donating some money: http://www.tsfi.org/en/action/donateonline

    1. Re:TSFI already deployed a team by Asic+Eng · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I thought this was quite interesting:

      "TSF's founders realized that, in addition to medical and food aid, there was a critical need for reliable emergency telecommunications services. Conflicts and emergencies often led to massive civilian displacement and separated families. And affected populations are often left with no communications infrastructure in place to find assistance and loved ones."

      Makes sense to me, I sent them EU50.