L'Internet!

[Steve]

Imagine the horror of living in a village where broadband isn't available. That was the dilemma of one quiet French village, but the village folk took it upon themselves to do something about it.

Their lines too far from the telephone exchange for ADSL, they setup a single satellite link, then shared their new found broadband love throughout the village via Wi-Fi. The BBC's Click Online reports:

Rieutort-de-Randon offers a model to other remote areas such as large expanses of the developing world, where laying cables or mobile networks might be too expensive.

Our networked world might have led to the death of distance, but geography is as relevant as ever.

Inspiration for other broadband deprived villages? Perhaps you lack a decent connection from your cosy home village? If so, let us know if you think this is a good way of solving the problem.

[Stoo]

iirc that's BT's standard way of enabling BB in remote areas if the lines are too long, not sure about the wi-fi though..

[mull]

Ha, well it's not just France that still has problems like this- the village my parents live in is only getting broadband turned on at the end of this month- the second to last exchange in the whole of the south west of england! There has been very little interest in broadband from the oldies in the village; they don't use it enough, and are now used to thier dial up rituals. The hassle of setting up a scheme like this precludes it from being established in an area without a geek 'leading the charge' towards BB, as it were; a core founder who can really sell the idea to others is needed.

Also, the young 'uns who live in the area; who would in theory be up for broadband, would be turned off by the fact that satellite has high latency, so still aint great for games. Add in the fact that it won't be cheap, and you have quite a few impediments for these sorts of schemes. Still, it certainly suits some situations, so more power to them!

[FallOutBoyTonto]

That is what the entire province of Nunavut did with over 20 isolated communities. They are still trying to get all places online as this is read.

Qiniq - The Coolest Hot Spot On Earth

Originally Posted by Project-History

The Nunavut Broadband Task Force members created the Nunavut Broadband Development Corporation (NBDC), a not-for-profit corporation representing members of the public. With initial start-up funds from Industry Canada, Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, and contributions in kind from various Nunavut-based organizations, NBDC pulled together a 600 page business plan detailing every aspect of a sustainable network. The vision was to initially fund the building of the network through government and industry, and then sustain it through users purchasing affordable services from the network.