Low-Cost Internet Access Using Mechanical Backhaul October 9, 2007

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Google TechTalks
March 22, 2006

S. Keshav
University of Waterloo

ABSTRACT
Rural kiosks in developing countries provide a variety of services such as providing birth and death certificates, land records, and consulting on medical and agricultural problems.

Fundamental to a kiosk's operation is its connection to the Internet for bidirectional information transfer. Network connectivity today is primarily provided by dialup lines, though Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSAT) or long-distance wireless is also being deployed. These solutions tend to be both expensive and failure prone.

We propose the use of buses and cars as `mechanical backhaul' devices to carry data to and from a village and...