Is there such a thing as DIY internet? An amazing open-source project in Afghanistan proves you don’t need millions to get connected.
While visiting family last week, the topic of conversation turned to the internet, net neutrality, and both corporate and government attempts to police the online world. A family member remarked that if they wanted to, the U.S. government could simply turn off the internet and the entire world would be screwed.
Having readthis inspiring articleby Douglas Rushkoff on Shareable.net, I surprised the room by disagreeing. I said that we didn’t need the corporate built internet, and that if we had to, the people could build their own. Of course, not being that technically minded, I couldn’t offer a concrete idea of how this could be achieved. Until now.
A recent Fast Companyarticleshines a spotlight on the Afghan city of Jalalabad which has a high-speed Internet network whose main components are built out of trash found locally. Aid workers, mostly from the United States, are using the provincial city in Afghanistan’s far east as a pilot site for a project calledFabFi.
“FabFi is an open-source, FabLab-grown system using common building materials and off-the-shelf electronics to transmit wireless ethernet signals across distances of up to several miles. With Fabfi, communities can build their own wireless networks to gain high-speed internet connectivity—thus enabling them to access online educational, medical, and other resources.
Residents who desire an internet connection can build a FabFi node out of approximately $60 worth of everyday items such as boards, wires, plastic tubs, and cans that will serve a whole community at once.
Jalalabad’s longest link is currently 2.41 miles, between the FabLab and the water tower at the public hospital in Jalalabad, transmitting with a real throughput of 11.5Mbps (compared to 22Mbps ideal-case for a standards-compliant off-the-shelf 802.11g router transitting at a distance of only a few feet). The system works consistently through heavy rain, smog and a couple of good sized trees.”
“With millions of people still living without access to high-speed internet, including much of rural America, an open-source concept like FabFi could have profound ramifications on education and political progress.
Because FabFi is fundamentally a technological and sociological research endeavor, it is constantly growing and changing. Over the coming months expect to see infrastructure improvements to improve stability and decrease cost, and added features such as meshing and bandwidth aggregation to support a growing user base.”
“除了网络改进,除了麻省理工学院的开放式课程,还计划利用所提供的连接为用户建立在线社区和本地托管资源,使系统比其上行带宽的总和更有价值。关注FabFi博客上的进展。”
Image Credit: FabFi
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