Haven't been on here in a while. Just a have little to say today about connectivity
Within an Urban area, there are several technologies available today for providing Internet connectivity. This goes from Dial-up to ADSL and also hot-spots.
Once you get into the rural area, the limits are very obvious with mainly GPRS and EVDO for connectivity in a limited sense.
While there are many small solutions out there to provide wireless connectivity, it seem the best practical one to date is WiMAX (802.16D). This is the fixed version of WiMAX and would allow the level of bandwidth to sustain fairly good connections.
The issue with that is whether it will take off. The hype to get the mobile version of WIMAX (802.16e) will probably slow down the possible growth of 802.16d).
In summary, the main lacking for 802.16d is client support. Currently, you can get a 802.11 card for a few dollars. For 802.16d you need a big installation setup similar to a sattelite dish..
The other potential option would be to use 802.16d for getting into the community, then use 802.11 mesh technology to spread the signal around.
I think this whole topic is very important especially for developing countries. The US and Canada has this issue too so its very important.
Check out http://www.ruralbroadbandcoalition.net/ or http://www.onspeed.com/us/index.php?A=GoogleBT&kw=rural+broadband
