Plans to blanket Africa with free Wireless Internet

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Posted: Thu May 13, 2010 2:47 pm

Oh Poo ..

http://digg.com/d31Qypl

Posted: Sun May 16, 2010 4:57 am

Don't hold your breath...

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Apr 2007 Posts: 3123

What a ridiculous idea. I hope it fails tremendously.

Posted: Sun May 16, 2010 10:02 am

How about thinking about food and drink for them instead? ...
Yeah... many starving orphans would like to update their Facebook status and chat with friends.

Posted: Sun May 16, 2010 1:20 pm

I agree with Craig here. So what exactly will they use to get online? iPods and Laptops, I think not.

Posted: Sun May 16, 2010 2:11 pm

Well the wind up clockwork radio was successful in Africa, so maybe they plan on clockwork wireless Internet. No it's not a 'wind up' Smile

Posted: Sun May 16, 2010 2:11 pm

Yeah, let's cover Europe insted. Seriously, they wont cover any other continent, because there are already big companies which would say NO.

but in africa its pretty much useless.

Posted: Sun May 16, 2010 2:49 pm

I think it’s a quite ambitious idea

I don’t know how Mr. English will fund his project though

Regarding the priorities,

Indeed, having access o the internet is not important as having clean water

But it’s still significant; it will offer job opportunities, provide education and will help with the medical aids.

Posted: Sun May 16, 2010 3:36 pm

subway 1 wrote:

But it’s still significant; it will offer job opportunities, provide education and will help with the medical aids.

more scam, better scam and internet censorship.

Food for thought - in many african countries with corrupted goverment, or in civil war .. i dont think it will be that bright with "free WiFi".

Posted: Sun May 16, 2010 5:06 pm

Personally I'd prioritise access to clean water, eradication of malaria, etc. Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs, anyone? I think 'free internet' is probably the least of the problems. Not everywhere, of course, but for massive swathes of the continent.

Posted: Mon May 17, 2010 2:39 pm

manbiteslion wrote:

Personally I'd prioritise access to clean water, eradication of malaria, etc. Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs, anyone? I think 'free internet' is probably the least of the problems. Not everywhere, of course, but for massive swathes of the continent.

I agree totally, wi-fi isn't the thing they need, and I don't see how it can possibly help them other than to increase their knowledge of how much stuff they 'don't' have compared to the west. I would introduce wi-fi into schools only, and all students given coaching on how scamming is a 'bad' thing to do, and that there are definately other ways of making money out of the Internet. Like make something and sell it on e-bay.

Posted: Mon May 17, 2010 6:21 pm

Well, I still think this is a very ambitious project

However, we need to consider some points:

1.This project as far as I know is neither sponsored by the African governments nor by the UN agencies. It’s the idea of one man, who is so obsessed with it to the degree that he doesn’t mind financing this project himself. So, if this is Mr. English’s top priority to help Africa, let it be.

2. As how the internet will help to make the life of Africans better, I quote this example form the article “He cites the example of a doctor who, unable to diagnose a patient's rash, was able to take a photograph of it, email it to a doctor in Boston, and then communicate online to find a cure--turns out the mystery rash needed immediate treatment”,

not to mention the job opportunities, where many grads and qualified Africans can work from their homes

3. Finally, from what I read here, scammers are less than 0.03% of Africa’s population (this leaves more than nine hundred million Africans who are not scammers).

So, I guess it’s a little inaccurate to assume that the first thing a Nigerian with a free Wi-Fi and lap top would do is to send you the dying of cancer letter.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 21 Oct 2009 Posts: 2

Some scammers think bigger than others, I guess. Wink

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