FADECO INFORMATION/ RESOURCE TELECENTRE
P. O. Box 223 Tel/Fax: (028) 2223024
Karagwe - Kagera Region
Problems related to internet access:
Introduction:
Problems limiting Internet/ email access, are problems related
to the monopolistic operations of the telephone system in the country.
Secondly, the infrastructure in place do no seem to match with the signs
of the times. From experience, the telephone lines are always very poor
and the baud speed has never exceeded 14.400 bps. This is the maximum.
Sometimes this falls to 4.600 BPS
Current coping mechanism:
Limited usage of telephone service (i.e. use telephone
when rates are expected to be low from 6.00 P.M. to 6.00 A.M.)
FADECO is currently subscribing to the web-home service
offered by africaonline .co.tz. These a service called web home which
allows the subscriber to access Internet/email at night. Usage of the
service during the day is very expensive.
This is a limiting factor because most users would like
to access information during the day when the facility is open. It would
be difficult to keep the facility open to the general public at night.
Queue outgoing mails:
Another coping mechanism is to line up all outgoing mails
and have them all sent at once. What about for those who need urgent responses
and want to be assured that their mails are delivered.
Work off-line, Read mails off-line:
This is another mechanism. It works well with outlook express
for emails but not for web-based email addresses like yahoo or hotmail.
Most user prefer anonymity and require their private addresses. It is
difficult for the to read their emails nor to respond to them off-line
Most browsers will not allow you to read documents off-line Sometime it
is possible to download substantial amounts of information, but this make
it un-user friendly if you have always to be off-line
Options or alternatives:
Wireless Internet Connection option:
In light of very high telephone costs, FADECO contemplates a wireless
Internet connection option. This would enable unlimited access to the
Internet and would also reduce the telephone costs.
FADECO is labouring to find a solution to this. Early this year, FADECO
has considered to invest WORLDSPACE Digital Radio Receivers. At least
three of these have already been bought and installed at the resource
centre. The worldspace technology allows one to download some information,
but you cannot browse nor go to a site of your choice.
This makes it user unfriendly in some way. In order to set up a wireless
Internet link that could serve Karagwe community, a VSAT would be an option
as recommended by different experts.This would enable the facility to
search for information from the Internet and download it for interested
users.
There is no harm for FADECO to register as host ISP and invite interested
individuals and institutions to set up their private email accounts. This
requires hover a much bigger capital investment.
Conclusion:
FADECO is in the process of making a stakeholder analysis of interested
users through a standard questionnaire. Feedback to this will give us
a rough understanding of the ICT needs in the district. You can access
this by clicking here.
And lastly comes the issue of logistics and finance. FADECO invites Donors
and well wishers to partners with it to make access to information via
Internet and email affordable to our rural communities in Karagwe. For
pledges and support, contact
us.
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