No computer store nearby? No problem. Apparently all you need is plastic water bottles, used motorcycle parts, window screens, and coaxial cables and you are ready to connect to your wireless network.
This ingenious solution is profiled on the USAID website and was designed by Geekcorps to provide rural areas of Mali with access to the Internet.
The do-it-yourself antenna design satisfies the needs of a WiFi network and uses materials found in rural areas. It only costs $1 to produce but is equivalent to low-end commercial antennas that cost about $40 in the US. This creative solution was designed to help rural areas around the world begin connecting to the Internet.
Comments
Thanks for the shout-out. We're pretty proud of our BottleNet Wi-Fi. Now have you seen our solar powered computers? http://mali.geekcorps.org/article.php3?id_article=100
This is really strange for me to read about, as I was offered a position in Mali with Geekcorps a little over a year ago to work on this long-range radio stuff. I actually turned down the position to work for EchoDitto. Now I'm reading about it on our blog -- that's irony right there.
Not that I'm not happy about working at EchoDitto, mind you ;-)
Well Justin, you can always have a second chance - we're cool like that. We have another WiFi project in 2006, bringing wireless ISP's to Lebanon.
Wanna try again?