Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Show HN: 2.5B people can’t afford internet – need your opinion on our solution

giveinternet.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 124 posts

Re: Show HN: 2.5B people can’t afford internet – need your opinion on our solution

#81

Post by tguvot »

jibla wrote: post #74
tguvot wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll disagree. I worked previously "somewhere" that had yearly budget of tens of millions of dollars in order to tackle this specific issue - bringing internet to people that do not have it. We had extremely good data, most of which not available publicly; dozen(s) of people working solely on identifying scope of problem while other people trying to come up with solutions. I don't have the data anymore so I can argue…

I understand and maybe 2.5 Bn might be under question. But lets just to narrow it down to one country - US. One of the worlds strongest economy. Only in the US more than 3 million families with school-aged children can't afford internet connection (Sprint claims it's 5 Mio families) That's why these programs exist: http://1millionproject.org/ , https://www.internetessentials.com/ , https://www.fcc.gov/general/lifelin…

I actually live in US now. It's complicated over here. There are numbers that are talking about 20% of so that either cant afford or dont have in general access due to absence of infrastructure.

Will play devils advocate a bit: there is a lot of projects that attempt sponsoring model. Why one should choose yours over, lets say, this one https://www.worldvision.org/sponsor-a-child-in-africa .

Re: Show HN: 2.5B people can’t afford internet – need your opinion on our solution

#82

Post by jibla »

microcolonel wrote: post #79

Make internet access cheaper by operating an efficient internet service provider, which can afford to offer access to the internet at a rate that more people can afford, in the places where it currently is too expensive.

At the moment we work with local ISP's and Wifi operators who offer free installations and in some areas discounts on a monthly fee.

Btw on Wifi operators is willing to deploy infrastructure in areas where they considered not profitable before. As part of our partnership in September, they launch a new base station in a rural area of Georgia.

Re: Show HN: 2.5B people can’t afford internet – need your opinion on our solution

#83

Post by not_a_cop75 »

Perhaps I'm the asshole here, but until internet companies feet are really held to the fire on pricing, I don't feel like giving is going to make a substantial difference. If suddenly the money becomes available to sponsor millions of people's internet, the price of the internet will magically jump 50-500% in cost.

Additionally, while we want to magically give internet to all nations and I think that is a wonderful gesture, it seems to me that the very best thing we can do for the whole of mankind is to improve the impulse control of every single person alive today. With proper impulse control comes the ability to want to be educated and make a difference. Internet certainly makes it possible to become more educated, but without proper impulse control I'm afraid it would all be wasted on uselessness. I say this as someone that has themselves looked at way too many cat pictures and Netflix videos. Also the internet seems to be awash with types of vendors that are trying their very best to remove the impulse control of others. I don't think giving Candy Crush to the entirety of any continent is going to benefit if impulse control is the issue that is causing them the most struggle. Perhaps we should better focus on giving people the types of applications and access that are scientifically proven to improve lives? Just a thought.

Re: Show HN: 2.5B people can’t afford internet – need your opinion on our solution

#84

Post by jibla »

t0astbread wrote: post #77
jibla wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are cheaper mainly because the Chrome OS is Free (and maybe because they have almost no hard inside;) As far as we know OS and antivirus licenses make Windows more expensive.

Yeah but I'm wondering why Google is giving out ChromeOS at (presumably) no cost to hardware vendors. That means they must make their money from the customer somehow through e.g. extensive tracking.

Sure, that's why one of the options we consider might be Ubuntu. Chromebooks were fast and cheap solutions to start with.

Re: Show HN: 2.5B people can’t afford internet – need your opinion on our solution

#85

Post by jibla »

Tempest1981 wrote: post #72
jibla wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the moment we are bootstrapping and co-founders work for free, but we hope to become more effective after we reach some scale. We need to keep our team running not only to pay for the internet but for students identification (Working with schools and NGO's), Donor growth, community building, partner relations (ISP's and local Edtech partners who provide their services to our students for free) impact measurement,…

Why start with the students, instead of the 9/10 schools that lack internet access? (From your website: "In the poorest countries, only 1 out of every 10 students has Internet access at school.")

According to educators and researchers, there is a huge difference whether a student has access to the internet at home or in a public place where access is limited. In terms of creativity having internet access whenever you need it and how long you need it makes a meaningful difference. But this doesn't mean we only provide students with access. Sometimes we have projects where we connect educational community centers.

Re: Show HN: 2.5B people can’t afford internet – need your opinion on our solution

#86

Post by jibla »

not_a_cop75 wrote: post #83

Perhaps I'm the asshole here, but until internet companies feet are really held to the fire on pricing, I don't feel like giving is going to make a substantial difference. If suddenly the money becomes available to sponsor millions of people's internet, the price of the internet will magically jump 50-500% in cost. Additionally, while we want to magically give internet to all nations and I think that is a wonderful g…

The prices for internet connection are much cheaper in developing countries 10-15 USD and we work with local ISP's and small Wifi operators where they provide free installations and some operators provide discounts on monthly fees.

Regarding your second question I am copying my answer from a post below:

Besides connecting students, we run an online mentorship program via Chat, online groups, sometimes phone/ video calls. First Students receive a link with a "welcome package"-list of most popular and relevant educational platforms which are available in the local language. We also partner with the local EdTech partners who provide their services for free for our students, so if anyone is interested in any platform we teach them how to use it and provide free access. We are also long term partners with Khan Academy and Code.org and actively promote these platforms to the students.

On a weekly basis, we post in an online group different educational content, free offers from our partners and education organizations who provide their courses for free (both online and offline), we post different scholarship opportunities, fellowships, programs, etc.

We plan to provide tailor-made educational content separately to each student according to their interests and challenges. Also thinking to test different models.

At some point, I am not sure yet how can we maintain this educational part on a bigger scale. Hopefully through partners on the ground. But still, we believe that since we all take internet connection for granted and at the same time utilize it for the good of ourselves (not always of course), others have the same right to do it.

Re: Show HN: 2.5B people can’t afford internet – need your opinion on our solution

#87

Post by _8j50 »

The west had the same mindset with democracy.

What works in one society may not be best in others. I think countries should organically grow their information infrastructure in parallel with their physical infrastructure and economy.

That being said,China's belt road initiative is also building out internet infrastructure along the belt road's route.

Re: Show HN: 2.5B people can’t afford internet – need your opinion on our solution

#88

Post by hairytrog »

You might be starting with the wrong question. You are assuming internet access is a good thing and that extending its supply will be best for everyone. Consider the following:

- the internet makes people dumber (low attention spans, group think, advertising driven content, addictive behaviors promoted, etc)

- the internet makes us consumers instead of creators

- the internet makes people depressed and anxious

- the internet causes around 5% of global GHG emissions

- internet enhances ability for total monitoring and censoring of speech

- internet creates centralized global tech monopolies on information flow and data

- extensive global networks put society at increased risk of total collapse

What are the benefits and do they really outweigh the negatives? Can the benefits be accomplished through other means? Just make sure you're comfortable with possibly making people's lives worse.

Re: Show HN: 2.5B people can’t afford internet – need your opinion on our solution

#89

Post by dmix »

hairytrog wrote: post #88

You might be starting with the wrong question. You are assuming internet access is a good thing and that extending its supply will be best for everyone. Consider the following: - the internet makes people dumber (low attention spans, group think, advertising driven content, addictive behaviors promoted, etc) - the internet makes us consumers instead of creators - the internet makes people depressed and anxious - the…

The mechanical knitting machine will take all of our jobs and we'll be unemployed. Lets break the machines in protest and go back to handlooms!

Re: Show HN: 2.5B people can’t afford internet – need your opinion on our solution

#90

Post by austincheney »

not_a_cop75 wrote: post #83

Perhaps I'm the asshole here, but until internet companies feet are really held to the fire on pricing, I don't feel like giving is going to make a substantial difference. If suddenly the money becomes available to sponsor millions of people's internet, the price of the internet will magically jump 50-500% in cost. Additionally, while we want to magically give internet to all nations and I think that is a wonderful g…

When I upgraded to fiber I was paying $80 per month for unlimited data that averages around 920mb up and down to my house. The website says its now only $70 and it still performs the same. My ISP upgrade the entire neighborhood to fiber at no cost. Before fiber I was paying around $50 per month for 10mbps down and 3mbps up.

I know people like to hate on ISPs for pricing or availability, but I consider my case to be a fair deal. I live in a house in the US.

Post reply on HN