Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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?"

5 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. 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.

  3. 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)

  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