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

giveinternet.org

101–110 of 124 posts

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

#101
Your solution to what? To People who don't need an Internet but have other important issues to deal with? You're hoping that by putting them on the Internet you're going to create a new market?

I don't understand the point of this. I thought the people who cared about being on the Internet already were.

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

#102
post #101

Your solution to what? To People who don't need an Internet but have other important issues to deal with? You're hoping that by putting them on the Internet you're going to create a new market? I don't understand the point of this. I thought the people who cared about being on the Internet already were.

if "IoT/Robot/AI" or whatever it becomes can adapt to their needs, the people who don't need the internet, maybe there is a market there.

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

#103
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for your feedback. Agree, we are considering open-source OS's as well. We are at an early stage and Chromebooks were fast and cheap solutions to start with. But will take your comment into consideration. We work with the incumbent operators and smaller Wifi providers. They offer free installations for our families and in some areas discounts on a monthly fee. Btw we thought we were solving the affordability pr…

"Stundents" -> "Students"

Amazing Google still has 6,160,000,000 hits for the prior. IMHO, it is a new word due to large typos.

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

#104
post #102
post #101

Your solution to what? To People who don't need an Internet but have other important issues to deal with? You're hoping that by putting them on the Internet you're going to create a new market? I don't understand the point of this. I thought the people who cared about being on the Internet already were.

if "IoT/Robot/AI" or whatever it becomes can adapt to their needs, the people who don't need the internet, maybe there is a market there.

Well, this is the general idea:

People can either afford the Internet or not. If they can't afford it, there are good chances they can't afford to pay any other bills.

These people are usually not in developing countries, but the developed ones. The developed ones where no amount of government laws can bring affordable Internet to the public, nor any places with free WiFi nor good libraries with free browsing facilities.

So clearly, there is something bigger at play, and it is about artificially pricing people out of a market being the ultimate goal.

The people who do really need to be on the Internet in such a society would have already worked their way around it. And if not, they have other issues to take care of before they go to artificially high priced internet.

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

#105
You asked for an opinion, so here it is...

Schools don’t need computers or Internet to provide a breadth of education. I don’t know if computer literacy should even be taught in schools considering there’s so many different kinds of computers and they keep changing.

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

#106

I would recommend meeting up with the SudoMesh folks in Oakland if you are nearby, they get together every Tuesday. Though, probably better to do after CCCamp wraps up. https://sudoroom.org/wiki/Mesh

Will reach them out. Thanks

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

#107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is an amazing project but isn't there a better alternative to chromebooks? Maybe used laptops, can usually get leased business laptops for a similar price, and they don't actively spy you at all times.

Can't you run Linux on a Chromebook? Not sure if it has problems. https://itsfoss.com/install-linux-chromebook/

Thanks for the link. I don't remember we've tried this

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

#108
post #12
post #6

If the aim is to provide internet access to as many people as possible, wouldn't a cheap phone running Android Go or KaiOS be a more efficient use of the money? Any particular reason you went with Chromebooks instead?

First, we started with the used ones, but the maintenance of used devices was a disaster. Chromebooks were cheap, fast, virus-free and with bigger screens (More convenient for education) We buy them from 150-180 USD per unit. But this doesn't mean we' always go with Chromebooks. We always consider any other solutions based on the need of the project

Makes sense - are you aware of the https://www.pine64.org/pinebook/ (99 USD) project? They have units that are shipping and are open source friendly/more hackable and can run chromeOS as well.

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

#109
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 cente…

Thanks. Although I suspect more people might donate if they felt their donation helped 100 kids at a school, vs 1 kid at home. The "huge difference" might not be obvious, and I don't think it was in your FAQ. It might be a fun experiment to let donors choose either school or individual.

Although the studies show that people are more willing to give to a certain person (the story behind her/him) rather than a group. But yes, might be still worth testing. Thanks

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

#110
post #108
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First, we started with the used ones, but the maintenance of used devices was a disaster. Chromebooks were cheap, fast, virus-free and with bigger screens (More convenient for education) We buy them from 150-180 USD per unit. But this doesn't mean we' always go with Chromebooks. We always consider any other solutions based on the need of the project

Makes sense - are you aware of the https://www.pine64.org/pinebook/ (99 USD) project? They have units that are shipping and are open source friendly/more hackable and can run chromeOS as well.

No, haven't heard about them until now. Will get in touch. Thanks
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