2G? I would LOVE to get 2G at my rural northern Illinois home! I get an average of .5 to 1.25 download tested, and pay AT&T $42 a month. The only other "competitor" (by regulatory agreement), Comcast, will happily provide me with 5G, IF I pay $3000 to get the cable to my house, and then the current monthly service would be $79! And, that offer only came after we contacted the FCC (Federal Communications Commission, the US so-called regulatory body). I got much better service in rural Mexico! The USA is now a third-world country, just with better PR.
World Bank: What do the poor need – clean water, or email ... take a guess
Efforts to expand IT and internet connectivity in developing countries are producing results that are "far less than expected," according to the World Bank. The 2016 Digital Dividends report [PDF] said that when it comes to quality of life and economic development, campaigns to bring poorer nations online have failed to meet …
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Thursday 14th January 2016 21:49 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: What do the poor need...
I would think their most basic needs are reliable cheap base load electricity available 24/7/365. When they have that water becomes easy because that electricity will power the necessary pumps.
Once they have a reliable electricity supply from coal or oil or gas fired power stations then everything else becomes possible just as it did in Europe with the industrial revolution caused by steam power.
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Friday 15th January 2016 06:39 GMT Anonymous Coward
No dichotomy. It's a question of priority and benefits returned
With a fixed amount of time and money: Do you build well and sewer, or a cell tower first? Which improves the well-being of the populace it serves most?
Ok. So they have water on tap and a drain now. Do you give the village a cell tower or a schoolroom and teacher?
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Friday 15th January 2016 11:01 GMT PapaD
It's a question of short vs long term
Clean water helps right now, but access to the internet helps over the long term, and provides a more sustainable change.
It's a rehash of 'give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime'
Well, give him clean water and he can drink, give him the opportunity to learn LOTS of diverse stuff, and he will be able to learn the skills he needs to improve his life, and the lives of his children
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Friday 15th January 2016 12:03 GMT graeme leggett
Re: It's a question of short vs long term
"give him the opportunity to learn LOTS of diverse stuff, and he will be able to learn the skills he needs to improve his life, and the lives of his children"
But is a cellphone the better (cost effective?) way to deliver that, as opposed to a peripatetic agricultural adviser with a bunch of leaflets in the pannier of his bicycle?
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Friday 15th January 2016 14:35 GMT midcapwarrior
Re: It's a question of short vs long term
Give him clean water and he and his family do not get dysentery and other water borne ailments.
Healthy children do better in school and learn LOTS of diverse stuff.....
Healthy adults are more productive in their livelihood and learn new skills.....
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Friday 15th January 2016 13:43 GMT Alistair
Structural failures in logic?
1) water - reliable and clean
2) food - reliable and sufficient and *affordable*
3) decent basic education.
4) honourable government. <Okay - I'll concede that no one on this planet has that yet but.....>
The internet is as useful for one as a bicycle is for an earthworm, if you can't READ and WRITE
Then, maybe the internet. It does, once one has the basics, provide the opportunity to learn much more. Why anyone would consider other priorities boggles the imagination.