[LINK] Indonesia Overtaking Australia with Wireless Internet

Marghanita da Cruz marghanita at ramin.com.au
Mon Jun 6 11:46:18 AEST 2011


Richard Chirgwin wrote:
> On 6/06/11 9:08 AM, Tom Worthington wrote:
>> Richard Chirgwin wrote:
<snip>
>> Many people in developing nations already have mobile phones and know 
>> what the Internet is. If you offer them a very high speed fibre
>> optic connection they will not shout "White man's magic!" and bow down
>> in gratitude. They will say: "How much will it cost? 
> ...cellular broadband access is more expensive, by a long way, than 
> fixed network access. You could add a small premium onto NBN access and 
> that statement will still be true.
<snip>
Assuming you are talking about dollars. When you say cost - do you mean
price to customer, or cost of provision?

The difficulty we have with Wire good Wireless bad - is the evidence. When
we compare the size of the Wireless TV and Radio audience to the cabled
one, or the uptake in wireless vs cabled telephones, we end up with the 
opposite conclusion.

Yesterday, I had an amusing experience of turning up with my 3G connection
and asking for electricity. The automatic response was "there is WiFi". As
the response was being uttered, the question was comprehended and the power 
socket was subsequently pointed out.

Maybe one day computers will be as energy efficient as radios (and watches
once were). Otherwise we will just have to build a few more coal or nuclear
power stations.

> A windup radio or clockwork radio is a radio that is powered by human muscle power rather than batteries or the electrical grid. In the most common arrangement, an internal electrical generator is run by a mainspring, which is wound by a hand crank on the case. Turning the crank winds the spring, and a full winding will allow several hours of operation. Alternatively, the generator can charge an internal battery.[1]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windup_radio>

Marghanita
PS one of the issues in developing (and developed countries, whose power
generation is ageing/exceeding peak capacity), is unreliable electricity 
supplies.
-- 
Marghanita da Cruz
http://ramin.com.au
Tel: 0414-869202








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