POLL: Does everybody have internet access?
 

Without researching the subject, what percentage of the world has broadband internet and can use the Cloud?

http://www.wired.com/2013/08/latest-...u-s-broadband/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._subscriptions
http://www.broadbandmap.gov/blog/
http://www.digitaltrends.com/computi...-no-broadband/
http://www.internetworldstats.com/am/us.htm

I'd estimate that the global number is less than 50%, probably close to your 30% option.

I'd estimate 10-20%. Should I vote 30% as it is closest to my estimate ?

Most welcome to do so :)

I don't think it matters so much where on the planet there is not universal internet access I think what matters more is the percentage of those who should be able to access it but can't.
Civilisations existed for milennia without the internet but once one depends upon it being without can lead to being isolated from society.
I would guess about 30 percent or lower of the population of the globe do not have internet access but I would asert that what is more important is that many people in countries which nominally have internet access do not have it due to barriers of cost and infrastructure.

Your understanding is exceptional - few people see it your way, which is as accurate as it gets. There is a huge problem in connecting markets with suppliers and buyers, education, healthcare, mining & construction - all these suffer in world left by the wayside as a small percentage of global citizens move ahead, oblivious to the absence of more than 60 out of every 100 people. Essential raw materials cannot get to processing plants, produce cannot be sold which means that the factory in China manufacturing fireproof attire needed by the fire brigade in New York cannot buy chromium from Africa as there is no common means of communication. With telephone lines being stolen for its copper content, less people have meaningful internet access as mobile broadband is excessively priced everywhere. This kind of imbalance has many faces and shapes, yet it generally excludes many from participating in the global economy, affecting everybody most of the time. For instance, factories in Germany and the USA now lose out on raw materials, as they think that they can source it online. The Chinese know better and arrive with cash, so they get ahead of the Europeans and Americans. I have seen over the past twenty years how entire industry profiles have changed, how markets were re-shaped because of how we communicate. Gearing oneself for cloud-only as Apple and Microsoft did (spurred on by NSA) had resulted in alienating the US economy from essential supplies of critical resources. The NSA, in its effort to save America, is suffocating it. It is easy to make this kind of mistake if your perception of the global village is not factual.


This is only one example of how a premature move into the cloud, with no alternatives, can wall in an entire nation and exclude a continent or two. I hope that someone will get interested in this and take it forward as we need to interact and collaborate, so that all can survive and be economically active in a sustainable way. I have posted and article on my blog here, if anyone is interested in getting a new perspective. I have used Africa as an example, but the same applies to other regions.


Many people are taken aback when they hear that most people do not have access to even Facebook, let alone come to forums such as these to vent their frustration. I am speaking on behalf of a sea of faces, faces you are not likely to meet here, as they cannot communicate with us. For all purposes, they just as well could have been living on planet Dzork ten billion light years away - such is the digital divide in practical terms!

I'd say that in fact everyone "could" have access. Not sure anyone "needs" it. It is not a basic survival sort of item.

I live 15 miles away from a so called high tech city in the USA. I can't get broadband unless it is a wireless mobile hotspot. That didn't reach me until last year. I did get 2400 baud for a long time. When it went to 33K it as a big day.

I wouldn't go quite as far as to say that it is "essential" or "needed" as such but even here in the UK those without internet access find it much harder to claim benefits, look for work or access health care. So, I wouldn't say that internet access is a luxury either as life can be a lot harder without.

Technology always does this. There was a time when telephones were a luxury. I'm not sure when the tipping point came but they are certainly essential now, and probably "tipped" well within 20 years of their introduction, which by today's standards should be considerably less than half that. Now, mobile phones (among other things) have killed off pay phones in all but a very few places. I'd be willing to bet this is a hardship for many. In most societies today schools all but require access to computers, and many if not most, access to the internet as well. It's easy for us, who have it, to speculate that it isn't essential but we don't feel the pinch.

Your situation is much different from someone in a village in Africa where there is no infrastructure. Already, to eke out a living and not even having a car or a real house, many spent much of what they earn on feature phones. They may need two or three as they need to be connected to different service providers. These are people who sell fish, vegetables and fruit. If they cannot deliver on time (manually carried there) the next guy who has a mobile phone and who can do text messages, will survive in his place. The interesting bit is that many resources needed, really needed, by developed nations, is out of reach because of this digital chasm.


Try to think in a bigger context than your own (little, by comparison) world. I am not saying this in a negative way; it is natural to think within the confines of one's own culture.

If they are stupid enough to spend their money on a phone in these impoverished places then they will be doomed to stay that way.

Technology will never help these people. Their situations are a vast combination crime, political failure, lack of an ability to work together for a common goal, lack of moral compass, lack of resources and many other issues.
Do you honestly believe watching Hulu will help them?

Internet access would be the very last thing I'd ever try to do for the third world. I've lived in a lot of very very poor places. I tend to believe it is a common goal issue. Mexico for example is an OPEC member yet crime (all levels) is wild, lack of sanitation, schooling, properly made and maintained infrastructure and the list goes on. Do you think facebook will help them?

For thousands of years, civilized cultures relied on libraries. Books that would last generations supplied enlightenment to those seeking it.

I'm tempted to agree, and I was trying to say that the internet isn't (or should not be) necessary in "the developing world" but do you know that? I'm far too lazy and sensitive to heat to to venture to Africa so I have no idea what pressures are being put on people there. I can imagine though that near the larger conurbations having good communications technology can mean the difference between staying and going home. Also a point I was trying to get across -- if internet access is available but only to some then it can be an enormous barrier to entry.

OK, so the need to survive, the same pioneer spirit that tamed the USA, for instance, is something stupid? Is it stupid to buy a spade to dig gold or diamonds with? It just shows how out of touch with reality many people are. At least they are not too lazy to dig up the minerals that enriches your economy!

If he eats all today, how will he survive tomorrow? True entrepreneurs are found in weird places, believe me!

In many video games you have a technology development tree, where a previous technology is required in order to implement a new technology. This applies to real life as well, but isn't followed everywhere. I've been to less developed countries and imagine the medieval mixed in with the modern, somehow trying to integrate ... but usually failing to do so and clashing. That's just how it is in some places. Maybe with enough proper management of these countries, which is the #1 problem in these countries, things can get to a working and decent state. I'm not sure everyone is working towards this goal however, because many have their own agendas.

I betting that we don't get a response from anybody that doesn't have access to the net.