VoIP desde la Bicicleta

VoIP on a bike

A bicycle-powered, Linux-based VoIP system brings developing communities into the 21st century.
A bicycle-powered, Linux (Overview, Articles, Company)-based VoIP system: not your usual high-tech architecture. But what if you were one of the more than 1 billion people living without electricity? No power, no phone.
The mission of Inveneo, a nonprofit group of inveterate high-tech adventurers, is to bring developing communities that never reached a 20th century level of infrastructure into the 21st century. Its bicycle-powered system brings not just VoIP but also e-mail and Web browsing to remote areas, using a combination of Linux and the Asterisk (Overview, Articles, Company) open source PBX.

Inveneo puts everything together with off-the-shelf hardware that is low-cost, easily replaced, and — it is hoped — easy to troubleshoot and fix. It uses Wi-Fi networking to route traffic to a central hub with existing phone infrastructure, with a range as far as 100 miles.

The bicycle, mostly used as a backup to solar power, gives the rider one hour on the phone for every 15 minutes of work. In a village, a user might trade pedaling time for phone time — or get paid by someone who wants to use the phone but doesn’t want to work so hard.

Pedal and solar powered PC and communications system

The lack of or the unreliability of power and phone lines as well as the high cost of access to existing infrastructure severely limit the ability of NGOs to provide services. Communities are isolated and depend on intermediaries for information - often leading e.g. to weak bargaining positions. This can lead to undervaluing the prices of their crops or paying too high of prices for materials they require.
Inveneo has designed a communications network that allows NGOs and the supported communities to communicate between various stations as well as into the existing phone network and Internet. The stations provide computing and phone capabilities while operating with battery power charged from solar panels or bicycle generators. Wireless networking (WiFi / 802.11x) provides the communication between the various stations and the central hub. Voice over IP (VoIP) is used to transmit phone calls from the stations to the hub. The central hub provides the interface to the existing phone network (PSTN) and Internet. Through use of relay stations the reach of the wireless network can be extended to cover distances of up to approximately 60 km (37 miles) from central hub to the stations.
http://www.inveneo.org/?q=pedalnetwork

posted by alvaro @ 11:18 p. m.