[Foundation-l] One Wikipedia Per Person (regarding the distribution of and the ability to read Wikipedia)

[Thomas Dalton]

2009/6/1 Anthony <wikimail at inbox.org>:
> On Sun, May 31, 2009 at 6:52 PM, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> 2009/5/31 Anthony <wikimail at inbox.org>:
>> > I just found another statistic.  Mobile networks cover roughly 80-90% of
>> the
>> > worlds population.
>> >
>> > For them, using that mobile network is probably the most cost effective
>> > solution.  For the rest, giving them enough of an education to have the
>> > means to come live with the rest of us, is probably the most cost
>> effective
>> > solution.
>>
>> Those are basic mobile phone networks, not internet phones. I don't
>> think voice calls and SMS messages are going to be much help.
>
>
> It's mostly GSM.  You're telling me these networks can't handle the use of a
> GSM modem?  If it can carry voice, it can can carry data.

Fair point. I guess I'm so used to broadband I forgot about the
existence of dial up for a second! You would need to hand out phones,
laptops, and network subscriptions, though - that's getting rather
expensive just to give someone an up-to-date encyclopaedia. The
network subscription could probably be heavily discounted if you were
only able to phone one number and that was to a WMF phone line that
handled the updates (so not strictly an internet connection).