How Does the Internet Work, Anyway?
It's all well and good to talk about how we can fund internet access to new places,
but it's often another matter entirely to discuss how we can physically accomplish it.
It's easy to think of the internet as a nebulous, intangible connection between computers, but the
reality is a little more mundane. Whenever a device is connected to the internet, it's connected either
by physical cables or by wireless radio connections. Not only do these connections cost money to lay down,
they also need maintenance and power. On top of that, those connections themselves need to be connected to a
population center's larger internet connection.
The "Cloud"
You'll often hear that some service or other is hosted on the cloud. The implication is
that websites actually exist in the sky, or at least in some nebulous, incorporeal location. In reality though,
the 'cloud' is just used to signify that something is processed on some server that is not the end user's computer.
For example, the popular service Google Drive is cloud-based because the files are stored on a box in Google's
basement, instead of a box in your basement. The upshot of this is that we can take advantage of processor/storage
intensive programs without investing in a powerful computer. The downside, though, is that if you're in an area with unreliable
connection, such as a developing country, it may not be a smart idea to use cloud-based services for things that are important,
as you may not be able to access them when you need them.
Networks
There are several ways to connect a town or village to the internet. Each method has it's upsides and downsides. The most direct method
is to lay cabling from said town over to a more urban area which has an existing connection to the world wide web.
This is the method that offers the fastest, most stable connection, but it requires a town to be close to an existing connection point.
The next method is to make use of satellite connections or other wireless connections such as radio towers. These methods are
cheaper over long distances, but they can be unreliable in severe weather or in mountainous regions.
