I guess I don't see why 3rd world countries are required to roll out Internet technology in the same way that, e.g., the U.S. does (i.e., wires in every home, business, etc.). I recently heard about (on _Living on Earth_ on NPR) some villages being lit with very low power LEDs running on pedal power. Would it really surprise you if they skipped the Big Hardware Model and went directly to, say, Internet Cafe Model, Library Model, Community Wireless Model, or something else? I mean, heck, we've all heard about Eastern Europe and former Soviet states who went from having no telephone service to wireless phones everywhere. Our Center for Battered Women takes donations of phones. Maybe ATT, Motorola, etc. could get a tax break for donating old phones, towers, etc. to the 3rd world? So, then you get some towers in place. They need to be solar powered of course. I don't know how long it would take to pedal a charge to a cell battery, though... :/ still, if they've got a TV, like in your example, then they can charge a phone battery to send email. Maybe they could figure out how to turn all those arial antennas into wireless repeaters? I'm not a radio guy, though, so I don't know. Anyway, I'm just saying that when there's technology, demand, and industrious thinking, someone will find a solution. When IPs became ridiculously expensive for home networking, the market responded with Linux and BSD support for IP masquerading and soon hardware devices followed. Speaking of Linux, I believe the IPv6 implementation in 2.6 will support encapsulation over IPv4 (among other things). So assuming our implementation relies entirely on donated, unwanted hardware from the U.S., the primary costs are: . shipping said hardware . expertise in installing and maintaining the system . electricity . international connectivity (probably through a coalition of States) If you've got the electrical infrastructure in place and governmental stability, it doesn't seem such a difficult project for a motivated group. Am I way off-base? -s
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