Crypto-Powered Internet Helps Work From Home During Coronavirus – Yahoo Finance

RSS POST 2020-03-31 20:03

Once the coronavirus hit, registered nurse Shannon Garcia suddenly needed to work from home, like thousands of others in the U.S. Not only would her isolation make space in a crowded hospital, she’d keep herself safe. Having cardiac arrhythmia and lung damage, she’s more vulnerable to the global virus taking a toll on her health.

But she faced a serious problem: a lack of internet access. Internet service providers (ISPs) don’t deliver internet in Clatskanie, Oregon, where she and her family live on a farm surrounded by cattle ranchers. She couldn’t contact her pregnant patients over video chat to check up on them.

Perplexed about what to do, she stumbled upon a rather atypical organization, Althea Network, running near her local community. She “stalked” them, she said, until they came to her area.

See also: Letter From New Hampshire: the Dangers of Disinformation‘ data-reactid=”23″>See also: Letter From New Hampshire: the Dangers of Disinformation

By looking to this small cryptocurrency company, she was able to get the internet when big internet companies couldn’t help her.

Related: View From Manila: Life During Coronavirus‘ data-reactid=”27″>Related: View From Manila: Life During Coronavirus

significant portion of the U.S. population.’ data-reactid=”32″>Even before this crisis, access to the internet was a problem for many across the world, in what’s become known as the “digital divide.” And if it seems like the internet is ubiquitous in the U.S., costs and accessibility have long been problems for a significant portion of the U.S. population.

55.1 million students. Many of these kids are expected to turn to learning online. But three million U.S. students don’t have their own access to the internet. ‘ data-reactid=”34″>Now schools are closing to try to contain the coronavirus, impacting 55.1 million students. Many of these kids are expected to turn to learning online. But three million U.S. students don’t have their own access to the internet.

I am happy to be a relay because I can make money.

Simpier hopes Althea will be able to fill that need for some of these kids, so the company is working to grow its networks beyond Oregon. “Right now we are primarily working on expanding our networks,” Simpier said.

Up until December Althea has been putting a proof of concept together, and it has been mostly focused on Oregon, with networks splattered across the state. Now, with the pressing needs of the crisis, Simpier thinks there could be opportunity to build networks almost anywhere.

‘); (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); }if ( quads_screen_width >= 1024 && quads_screen_width < 1140 ) { /* tablet landscape */ document.write(‘‘); (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); }if ( quads_screen_width >= 768 && quads_screen_width < 1024 ) { /* tablet portrait */ document.write(‘‘); (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); }if ( quads_screen_width < 768 ) { /* phone */ document.write(‘‘); (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); }

They’re starting to spread, with networks of various sizes up and running in Tacoma, Washington; Denver, Colorado; and Abuja, Nigeria. And they’re planning to expand to Haiti, Ghana, North Carolina and Philadelphia.

It’s not just the U.S. that’s benefiting from this technology amid the crisis.

Helmed by small business owner Yakubu Yakubu (who goes by “Yakk Yakk”), the network in Abuja (Nigeria’s capital city) delivers internet to more than 20 people who didn’t have home internet connections before Althea came around (though they did have slow mobile connections).

Abdulhamid can earn money from this by contributing to the underlying infrastructure. Antennas that pass on the connection, called “relays,” are spread across different houses in the neighborhood. If someone is close enough to one of these relays, they can use it to connect up to the internet.

Abdulhamid runs one of these relays in her home, delivering internet to neighbors.

This is where cryptocurrency comes into the picture. Other members of the group connect up to Fatima’s relay node and pay her in DAI for her service.

“I am happy to be a relay because I can make money and I feel at home with the Althea network,” Abdulhamid said in a statement.

“As more relays are added south of her, her own business to be empowered to make additional income,” Simpier said. That’s one reason why Simpier thinks it’s so important for these networks to be built in emerging markets, it “empowers” people with an extra source of income, she said.

Simpier argues that Althea network is more flexible than what most ISPs, such as Comcast or Time Warner Cable, provide.

She started the project in Oregon in her rural hometown of Clatskanie. She was partly inspired by how an ISP did install a radio tower, but abandoned the project when they decided it just wasn’t worth it.

The Althea mesh networks are “often” less expensive, and generally just less of a hassle, than setting up a full-blown radio tower, Simpier argued. “The economics of centrally held infrastructure require thousands of dollars of upfront costs and a long term [return on investment (ROI)]. With decentralization, many different people can contribute capex to building and growing the network and benefit from the revenue generated,” she said.

Original Source