There may be a couple of you out there wondering how we are managing this blogging business from the middle of nowhere in Uganda. If in doubt of its remoteness see the blog here.
The answer is in the picture above. This is a new addition installed by an American doctor who was so appalled by the communications here. He went away researched what was required and raised the $80000 required to install it. What you can see is a satellite dish, at an angle of 12 degrees (seems low doesn't it!), they had to chop down a few trees to give a clear line of sight. Also you can see two massive solar panels to power the system. What you can't see are the 32 massive batteries in a bunker to keep it all running in any conditions. Nor can you see the equipment in the building to manage it and the network. As you can imagine the actual computer equipment required to keep it running is not that great, it is the power and connection that are the issues. Oh and also you can see half of the wifi mast that sends the signal across the site. We are a few hundred metres away and have a signal strength today of 18Mbps. Normally it is around 5.5Mbps.
So there you go and now you know!! It is not just a matter of calling a broadband company. Nothing is that simple here!!
3 comments:
It was probably quicker to erect the system than to contact ntl on the phone!
Pete
In my experience not usually "that simple" here either!
Seriously, a great project and it must have transformed communications completely for the whole New Hope team.
... and much appreciated by all of us following progress of the CCN team as well. Really enjoying all the updates, this is obviously making a big impact on you all!
love the ntl references!! Nice!
l8r
mark
Post a Comment