[NA-Discuss] DIY Broadband- High Speed solutions for remote areas

Glenn McKnight glenn.mcknight at ieee.org
Sun Feb 17 22:29:48 UTC 2013


http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/02/14/172011262/diy-broadband-comes-to-the-english-countryside



In a fast-moving world, people from all over have demanded faster Internet
speeds. But when you live out in the middle of nowhere, you can feel like
you're in the Internet slow lane because broadband just isn't available.

Residents of England's rural Lancashire decided that enough was enough with
their slow, limited connections. They came to the conclusion that no major
supplier would be out their way anytime soon, the BBC
reports<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21442348>.
Broadband companies said it would be too expensive to wire up the sparsely
populated area.

So Lancashire residents took matters into their own hands and
createdB4RN<http://b4rn.org.uk/> (pronounced
"barn") — Broadband for the Rural North.
[image: In much of America, the availability of online video is often
frustrated by slow broadband speeds. In this 2011 photo, Valerie Houde
waits for a dial-up Internet connection in East Burke,
Vt.]<http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2012/10/25/163570116/watching-tv-online-often-exposes-slow-bandwidth>
All Tech Considered <http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/>Watching
TV Online Often Exposes Slow
Bandwidth<http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2012/10/25/163570116/watching-tv-online-often-exposes-slow-bandwidth>
[image: Broadband Internet access at
home.]<http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2012/03/23/149215373/tracking-high-speed-internet-in-your-neighborhood>
All Tech Considered <http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/>Tracking
High-Speed Internet In Your
Neighborhood<http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2012/03/23/149215373/tracking-high-speed-internet-in-your-neighborhood>

Funded and operated by volunteers in the community, B4RN digs trenches to
lay the fiber optic wires necessary to connect the residents to
super-high-speed Internet for less than $50 per month.

A few locals have already been hooked up to the local network and their
once ancient and tired computers are catching up with the times. Resident
Harry Ball tells the BBC he's thrilled to be getting download speeds of 500
Mbps. "That's fabulous, isn't it?" he says.

By comparison, the average U.S. Internet connection speed is a pokey 7.2
Mbps and the U.K. average is 6.3 Mbps, according to
Akamai<http://www.akamai.com/dl/akamai/q3_2012_soti_infographic.pdf>.
But both lag behind South Korea, which averages 14.7 Mbps (with average
peaks of 48.8 Mbps).

Watch the BBC's report <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21455795>.



Glenn McKnight, B.A, M.A
Chair: Foundation for Building Sustainable Communities(FBSC)
IEEE HIC  Committee Member
IEEE PES CSI  Committee Member
ICANN NARALO Member
Oshawa, Ontario Canada
glenn.mcknight at ieee.org
SKYPE:   gmcknight



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