Welcome to the Rural Internet Access Project

(a very preliminary site)

Internet access for the rural developing world is widely perceived as a way to reduce isolation, provide educational and economic opportunities, and ultimately improve the quality of life. Unfortunately, high capital and operating costs have limited rural access to a handful of heavily subsidized and supported demonstration projects. This innovative integrated strategy, based on existing technologies and rural social structures, addresses a variety of barriers and could ultimately create a breakthrough in getting large numbers of rural communities on the internet. The creation of a strategic demonstration and test bed in four villages in the Dominican Republic is now under way.

Key Elements in the Rural Access Strategy

• Start from existing clusters of 5-10 villages
• Use wireless networking to share one broadband Internet connection
• Maximize the connection's efficiency with a cluster server
• Design an appropriate village computer
• Use open-source software and generic hardware
• Pay for the Internet connection by selling voice telephone calls

Link to Full Proposal

Rural Internet Access is a project of CRESP-EcoPartners at Cornell University and CAREL, the Rural Alternatives Center in El Limon, Dominican Republic. We have operated a wireless rural Internet project in El Limon (population 350) for five years, and installed wireless access infrastructure in five additional villages.

Additional support for this demonstration comes from the Reuters Digital Vision Fellowship Program at Stanford University

Contact: Jon Katz, jgk5@cornell.edu