Build Your Own

When you are online, whether it is gaming, streaming videos, or just chatting with internet phone services, a freezing of the system can be the worst nightmare come true. It is frustrating, yes, but when you think about the fact that about 30% of the population does not have internet access, it can put things into perspective. As we have heard from many tech giants, internet access it a human right and it should be treated as such. Maybe it's time to take matters into their own hands. Communities beyond U.S. borders are showing the way. In rural Lancashire, England, the residents of one village have begun digging trenches and installing their own fiber optic cables. To make their homemade network run, the BBC reports, they've enlisted everyone from a "Lancaster University professor who is an expert in computer networks" to a "farmer's wife who has just retired from a career in IT support." "Farmers are being told they have to fill in forms online," Barry Forde of the Lancashire effort told the BBC. "If you haven't got broadband, you are severely disadvantaged." An ocean away, The Times of India reports, the Mexican town of Villa Talea de Castro built its own mobile network after America Movil, Mexico's largest telecommunications provider, refused to hook the town up.