Low cost data access system for rural and under-served areas

In this paper, attention is focused on the challenges that rural and under-served areas in South Africa pose in the provision of telecommunication services. The aim is to provide access to information (data e.g., Internet) to rural and under-served areas at an efficient and affordable cost. Available technologies and integration of currently emerging wireless local area networks (WLAN) that support IEEE 802.11b standard with the Internet are investigated. Configuration issues are discussed and technology set-up demonstrated. Measurements and simulation are performed to validate the suitability of deploying the technology in those areas