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From: kludge@grissom.larc.nasa.gov ( Scott Dorsey)
Newsgroups: comp.society.development
Subject: Re: Summary: Who is on the net?
Message-ID: <1991May28.204751.11309@news.larc.nasa.gov>
Date: 28 May 91 20:47:51 GMT
References: <1991May27.141355.978@darwin.ntu.edu.au> <1991May28.183943.16259@convex.com>
Sender: news@news.larc.nasa.gov (USENET Network News)
Reply-To: kludge@grissom.larc.nasa.gov ( Scott Dorsey)
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center
Lines: 35

In article <1991May28.183943.16259@convex.com> swarren@convex.com (Steve Warren) writes:
>Hey, is it really necessary to have a local telephone exchange before you
>can hook up internationally?
>
>Couldn't a small satellite dish with the appropriate equipment do the job?  I
>really don't know the answer to this question, that is why I am asking.  I am
>recalling stories of Kuwaitis during the Gulf War who were able to maintain
>telephone contact with the rest of the world because of the satellite dishes
>they had in their back yards.

   Most of those were people using INMARSAT, a system which is designed for
ship to shore radio communication.  Suffice it to say that you could buy a
small exchange for the cost of an INMARSAT terminal, and you have to feed'
it several thousand dollars worth of quarters every hour.  This is not at
all a profitable way to network.
   Another way is to rent a satellite transponder and get your signal over
it.  This also is extremely expensive, although probably cheaper in the long
run than using INMARSAT.  It also permits extremely high bandwidths.  This
might be a good way to link your country to the net, but you have to be
feeding a lot of other nodes in order for the wide bandwidth of this system
to be profitable.
   The third way I can think of is through amateur packet radio.  The problem
here is that of getting a license in the country involved, the fact that
the amateur satellites are not in geosynchronous orbit so they can only be
used at certain times of the day, and that they can't be used for anything
even vaguely commercial.  This is a very powerful resource, though, and 
pretty cheap too.
   Still, a good telephone system is essential to modern business.  I think
that having phone lines and preferably a local exchange is more important
than computer communications.  Start with the easy stuff first; it's quite
easy to set up local phone systems and probably not all that expensive.
Old crossbar exchanges are available in the U.S. by the pound (avoirdupois,
not sterling), and there is a lot of equipment which is perhaps dated by
modern standards, but quite serviceable.
--scott