Cheap internet access using recycled smartphones, for the developing world.
What do I mean by developing world exactly?
Well for starters, the 2.6 Billion people, that the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) estimates, do not have Internet access.
So how can recycled smartphones help?
Well they are computers at heart, and can therefore be repurposed, as cheap community WIFI routers. This is the circular economy in action!
Smartphones have the capability to receive wireless signals, such as 5G, and to also allow devices such as laptops to connect to them, to access the internet.
One of the current issues that is keeping an estimated 2.6 Billion people off the internet, is remote location.
Remote locations and small spread out populations, make it uneconomic for commercial telecommunications operators, to install the necessary infrastructure, to provide internet coverage.
This is true, both for cellular mobile internet via smartphones, and also fixed wired internet connections.
By using old smartphones, which are effectively e-waste, as the basis for new WIFI communications devices, we help people and the planet!
More about Cheap Internet Access using Recycled Smartphones, in the video below.