Rural Internet - Not Online but Still Connected

The use of 'asynchronous' internet is being developed to give internet access to remote villages. According to this SciDev.Net article, where there is no possibility of cables or constant online connection, "[a]synchronous connections use software to queue data (such as emails, web searches and requests for specific downloads) and to ready it for transfer. The data are assembled on a device such as a [universal serial bus] USB memory stick, then carried across mountain passes or down rough tracks that have never seen a cable - to a distant internet connection."


Other strategies include working offline, while setting computers to connect to the internet at night or on a weekend when telephone rates are lower. (In some cases, as stated here, the use of a USB memory stick and a motorcycle to transport it to a speedier connection is faster than using a dial-up connection.) Alternatively, a wireless-enabled computer can transmit and receive data through a device developed by United Villages. The short distance transmission device connects to a data storage device installed some form of transportation that passes by and can download to and upload from a computer online (often via the daily bus).


Providers of internet access through a United Villages project in rural India find that the technology is enriching the lives of rural villagers, but not in ways that were predicted at the outset of the project. For example: "Rather than paying to send emails and surf the web villagers prefer to email their questions to someone who will do the surfing for them and return the answers in a pdf (portable document format) file." A similar project by the Geekcorps in Mali closed because it was under-utilised due to low literary. A service that seems to have become popular in Mali is a Wikipedia-style French electronic encyclopaedia called Moulin. It can be carried on a memory stick and accessed by computer offline. A Sri Lankan community radio station solved the low literacy issue by providing 'radio browsing' live on air for callers who ask presenters to search the web for answers to their queries.


Amir Hasson of United Villages in India uses a system called DakNet - dak means 'post' in Hindi - that mixes wireless technology with whatever transport is already available, to connect around 400 remote Indian villages. The low interest in email did not generate sufficient profit or interest, so United Villages sought other services more relevant to the villagers' needs. This resulted in the generation of income by selling villagers subscriptions to jobs databases and by providing travel booking. Electronic shopping is another service available at the village kiosk, where the client can choose products from a catalogue that he or she might otherwise have to travel to a city to buy. Orders are transmitted through the wireless connection to a bus, delivered to a service in the city, which can ship the goods by return bus. According to Hassan, the savings on travel, particularly for local merchants who supply their shops, means that United Villages can profit while it saves its clients money. While United Villages originally focused on a technology for difficult-to-reach populations, now it focuses on what people want technology to address. The internet has little to offer in content or local languages for these villages; hence, the search for services that offer advantages.

The field of education is able to make use of the internet and is seeking innovation in accessing it in rural areas, according to this article. In rural KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa, Wizzy Digital develops systems using memory stick transfer and delayed dial-up in local schools, developed with cheap computers linked to a single server using technology known as a "thin client" system. Stored emails are sent at night and material is downloaded for off-line daytime use. Approximately 200 MB of data - about 40,000 text-only emails or 1,600 web pages - can be downloaded overnight for about seven South African rand (about 70 US cents). Where dial up is not possible, a courier can take a memory stick to a school that has a connection.


United Villages hopes to reach 2 billion people with digital networks by 2015. The intention of asynchronous access projects is to offer a digital future to remote communities, as communities and providers search for how the internet can satisfy community needs.