Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Wi-Fi yak farmers liberated by Net

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 25 May 2004 18:31:39 -0400

Wi-Fi yak farmers liberated by Net
By John Oates
Published Tuesday 25th May 2004 15:01 GMT

Yak farmers in Nepal are using wireless Internet access to keep in touch 
with their families, thanks to the successful completion of a seven-year 
international campaign.

Wireless Internet access means yak farmers can stay in touch with
friends 
and family. Five villages now have such access - and it got there before 
normal phone lines. The yak farm is two days' walk from the village and 
previously farmers were isolated there for long periods. Now they can
send 
email or ask for help and are even starting to offer items for sale.

Villagers in Paudwar and Nangi are using the network to improve running
of 
their tourist campsites and to talk to Himalayan Handicrafts - a website 
selling Nepalese goods. Farmers and workers at the campsites get access
to 
laptops.

Nepal Wireless is currently collecting teaching materials and hopes to 
offer distance learning soon. They also want to give local people more 
control over e-commerce projects. They are also keen to extend the
network 
to include another nine villages

The project started in 1997 when an Australian school donated four 386
and 
486 computers. Local teacher Mahabir Pun wanted to get the donated 
computers online but there was no phone line to the village. He tried to 
get a satellite connection but that proved too expensive. A radio phone 
could not provide a good enough connection.

The project got a big boost after Pun's campaign was featured on BBC
Online.

After the story on the BBC appeared, the village received two visitors 
(Jonni Lehtiranta and John Verrept) bearing a couple of Cisco wireless 
cards donated by IBM Finland. More media interest led to donations of 
wireless access points and Johan Verrept returned to the village to
help. 
Other volunteers contributed advice and equipment too.

The network starts on a Linux server with Internet access in Pokhara, 22 
miles away. From there, signals are sent to a radio and a solar-powered 
relay station 11,000 feet up a mountain, tied to a tree. This splits the 
signal and sends it to Nangi village and another relay station - also
sun 
and wind-powered and 12,000 feet up.

This station sends the signal on to wireless access points in the three 
villages - Ghara, Sikha, Paudwar and Tikot. Tikot is 36 miles from the 
server in Pokhara and the last village to be connected. Students and 
schoolchildren all use the system for Internet access and email. To see
the 
technical details of the project, or to donate equipment, click here ® 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/25/yak_wireless_internet/

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