You may find it hard to believe, but a US based company
Outernet is aiming for providing free Wi-Fi to every person
on earth using low-orbit earth satellites. Outernet, also
calling themselves as Humanity’s Public Library, is a global
broadcast data startup currently being incubated by the
Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF), a United
States-based impact investment fund and non-profit
organization established in 1995 by Saša Vučinić and Stuart
Auerbach.
They recently began providing free Wi-Fi to 1.3 billion people
across North America, Europe and most of the Middle East.
They have covered regions of Asia Pacific by end of 2014
and by June 2015 the company aims to provide free internet
to everybody across the globe. Currently, it is providing 200
MB of data per day through its high-speed signals, but soon
it would be upgraded to 1 GB. The company is eying on
providing 100 GB of data per day to users across the globe.
According to MDIF, the initial content access includes
international and local news, crop prices for farmers,
Teachers Without Borders, emergency communications such
as disaster relief, applications and content such as Ubuntu,
movies, music, games, and Wikipedia in its entirety.
Recently, Outernet has released a gadget called Lantern,
which aims to connect the entire world to the internet for
free. Lantern is more like a modern version of a digital radio
and it works anywhere in the world. With this, you can view
everything in a browser but it will look like offline mode with
only some part accessible. The device is solar powered and
can also charge a phone. This is basically a wi-fi hotspot
coupled with a portable charger.
Will Outernet change the whole perspective of how we look
at the internet today, This only time will tell. But one thing
is sure, I will keep myself updated with this thing as so
should you.
(The article has been updated to include new information)
Source: fossybyte.com
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