Drive-by internet buses bring internet to cheap skate rural types

Sure, we're all about sneakernet, but this is the first time we've seen "busnet" employed to such effect. In rural India, internet infrastructure is too expensive to make it out to remote villagers, so the United Villages project is bringing the internet to them on four wheels. Apparently, Indian interests in the internets are relatively limited at present: "They want to know the cricket scores, they want to see the new Aishwarya Rai photos, and they want to hear a sample of the latest Bollywood tunes." That's according to Amir Hassan, founder of UV. So the bus loads itself up with such data, and drives out into the country, spreading the info via WiFi. If someone does want a more unique tidbit of info, they can order it for a few extra rupees, and receive it the next time the bus heads their way. There's even a form of e-commerce -- the bus carries an electronic catalog, and orders are delivered by the bus the next time it's out. Sound's pretty hip-cool, but we suppose we'll stick with our WiFi / EV-DO / HSDPA / telepathic internet connection we've got going for the time being.

[Via Slashdot]

[vrn @ Mar 31st 2007 1:26PM]

Paul, are you capable of posting a non-inflammatory comment about India? In the last four items you've posted about India, you've not succeeded once in making a comment that doesn't try to inflame.

Yeah, I'm glad that the US has Wi-Fi/WiMax/HSDPA/EV-DO/telepathic internet, but does it occur to you before you call a solution "cheap skate" that the US' GDP per capita is in the ball park of an order of magnitude greater than India's?

[UGN @ Mar 31st 2007 1:47PM]

Cheap skates? We should be applauding, not lauding the fact that someone is taking the initiative in bringing people easy access to information that we take for granted. While we spend $100 dollars a month on our voice/data plans, in India $100 dollars can easily be a person's monthly income; internet would be the last thing on his/her mind. Cheap skate?

[BSS @ Mar 31st 2007 2:07PM]

But Paul, India doesn't loot the world and wage war to fund WiFi / EV-DO / HSDPA / telepathic internet connection , that you have got going for sometime ...
You sick a**ho*e

[Waitupasec @ Mar 31st 2007 1:56PM]

When I lived in india i didn't see quite the same thing but in Amritsar I saw a bus that had a bunch of desks inside with internet access, I wanted to get in but unfortunately I saw it on the road going the opposite direction.

[chasing @ Mar 31st 2007 2:47PM]

"cheap skate rural types"

God, man, hang your head in shame.

[eric cumbee @ Mar 31st 2007 3:01PM]

Seems like snail mail would be about as fast.

[abc @ Mar 31st 2007 3:10PM]

Does EnGadget actually hire and pay people with such limited mental capabilities that they would write a headline like this? Oh. Is that a clearly uninformed judgement I just made?

[Lucas @ Mar 31st 2007 4:18PM]

Obviously hes not writing for the times and never will by the look of it :)

[Heather R. @ Mar 31st 2007 4:41PM]

Cheap skate rural types? You mean those not fortunate enough to have ready access to gateways of information that privilege the middle and upper classes.

[Jared @ Mar 31st 2007 7:01PM]

I would imagine he's not saying "Cheap skate rural types" in direct correlation with India - I think he's making it a play on American rural types such as those backwards enough to live in...I dunno...White County, GA (I have relatives there, I can say this).

So I would be hard pressed to believe that he's calling the indigent rural Indian population "Cheap skates."

Come on, I'm all for Global Right (in fact, I JUST got back from a protest against Darfur genocide) but let's cut the politically correct CRAP and use some common sense about this.

Your reading a technology blog for goodness sakes, and he was just trying to be funny.

Use your brain and figure this out.

[ovad2 @ Mar 31st 2007 7:12PM]

ha...........ha...........ha.............

[bobbymelbourne @ Mar 31st 2007 10:55PM]

Maybe if the buses were going to lower bumf*ck, hicksville then you may have a point. It's not about being politically correct but about using an ambiguous and dumb post title. Clearly Paul failed Blogging 101.

[Kevbe @ Mar 31st 2007 7:04PM]

I wholeheartedly agree with everyone who has posted so far. You took something as altruistic and commendable as giving internet access to those who otherwise would not have it, and turned it into some derogatory and shameful. You should be praising those who have seen fit to do such a thing, not call them cheap skates. You may have thought you were making a joke, but it backfired in your face. I guess the joke's on you buddy.

[Markiv @ Mar 31st 2007 10:21PM]

You're an ignorant pr*ck, quite frankly. not only for insulting my ancestry, but for calling yourself a journalist without the semblence of PC or sensitivity.

Just stick to your trade of what may pass as journalism, and leave humor to your superiors. PC doesn't apply here, as your's is a case of ignorance. So, Paul, either expand your cultural awareness or leave the racism out of your published matter and respect the culture, at least in appearance. You obviously know nothing of my culture, its development, or its financial situation. So do not mock my people who hope to enjoy not even a fraction of the amenities afforded to you, who, in his abundance of resources refuses to educate himself about that in which he involves himself.

[M @ Apr 1st 2007 12:10AM]

Someone needs a kick in the teeth for that nasty title. Twice. With steel cap boots.

India's growing, they can't have US quality net on day one, and I think this is a good, novel solution in the mean time.

I fully empathise with the Aishwarya Rai part though. Don't we all.

[Thiyag @ Apr 2nd 2007 6:13AM]

"cheap skate rural types"

Man, who do you think you are?? I dont know how they get idiots like you to write for engadget.

[Nick @ Apr 2nd 2007 2:43PM]

The way I see it, this is just a variation on me using my old Palm Sized PC and the activesync Channels to load up my favorite not-real-time internet data and read it later.

For places where always-on-wireless-low-cost-internet is not yet a reality, this strikes me as relatively innovative. I don't think the people behind this idea envisioned it as being equal to or an alternative to always on connectivity, just a stop gap until such is a reality in these areas.