Busing the internet to the poor

To give people in poor villages throughout India the company, United Villages, uses buses to provide Internet access to about 110,000 people in rural India and several other countries.

Each village that they serve has computer kiosks set up for villagers to compose emails, read the news and buy products from online stores. The only catch is that the web pages are not served in real time. Two WI-FI equipped buses visit the village four to six times a day to collect requests from the computers and transport the data to United Village hub in the city. The city hub then sends the messages out, processed searches and transfers any requested data back to the bus.

Seoul, Korea has had wireless internet Buses that allow people to access the internet while they are traveling in the city for about a year. Showing once again how they are miles ahead of the technology available in the U.S.



My Question is why oh why don't they do this in the rural parts of the U.S.?

According to Pew Internet.org in 2004 only 55 percent of all Internet users or 34 percent of adult Americans have high-speed Internet connections either at home or on the job. By the end of 2005 only 24 percent of rural American had high-speed Internet connections at Home compared to 40 percent in suburban areas. In rural areas 38 percent were listed as non Internet users. However the report called Rural Broadband Internet use from February 2006 said that Rural Internet users use the Internet for things like searching the news, checking blogs and participating in fantasy sports at about the same rate as urban users.

The easier and cheaper you make Internet access the more people will use it. Opening up access to the information highway so that nothing can stand in the way of person from becoming an expert in a variety of subjects if they are a little curious.

Another report called Wireless Internet access said that 34 percent of Internet users have logged onto the Internet using wireless connections either from their home or office.

The Internet gives people a choice in how they learn about the world and view the news. Instead of listening to the local radio, watching TV, or reading the local newspaper they can choose from thousands of newspapers. The number of choices on the Internet often overwhelm and overload us with rumor and inaccurate information. They also make it nearly impossible for the mainstream media or the government to control what the public knows.

They provide a sanctuary for citizen Journalism and unedited Journals through blogs. The education of the public through the Internet can slowly but surely spread democracy. This is why China is working with Google to control the Internet. They are fighting a losing battle over information. Its too easy to broadcast the truth and get it to the Chinese public you cannot fool the masses anymore.


Sky News report on discontent in China over development.

The truth is out there. Curious people just need the tools to find it and spread the word.