Google recently said that it wanted to give high-speed internet access to everyone on the planet. The plan is to use balloons to beam down signals to Earth, providing universal coverage. Unfortunately, we’re not quite at the stage of the omnipresent internet yet. There are pockets on this great planet of ours, yet to be exposed to cat videos. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t some kind of weird places you can get the internet. Let’s take a look at a few of them.
Donkey Wifi, Israel
Our obsessions with animals and the internet has reached new highs in Israel. Now donkeys have been draughted in to provide mobile wi-fi to the people of Kfar Kedem. The donkeys carry around a router on their banks, shrouded in a pillowy bag. It’s meant to help tourists stay connected to the internet while they are on their donkey ride. Who wants to observe the beautiful Israeli countryside when there’s Facebook?
Cote D’Azur, France
Being one of the world’s premier tourist attractions, the Cote D’Azur has had the internet for some time. Well, the land has, at least. But what about all those yachts out on the open water? How will they post updates on Twitter? Over 4G, of course.
You might think that yachts and 4G don’t mix. But you’d be wrong. Now you can pick up a strong 4G signal while cruising around mild waters of the Cote d’Azur. It’s all been made possible by the integration of mobile and broadband networks. And it makes data transfer to yachts about 500 times cheaper than satellite.
Val d’Isere, France
Val d’Isere is a famous French Alpine resort. And until recently, getting access to the internet was a little tricky, thanks to some rather large mountains. But now that’s all changed thanks to a wifi-enabled gondola. Keen skiers can now take pictures and instantly upload them to Pinterest. Good stuff.
The Moon
Recently, scientists have been taking the idea of universal internet access to the extreme. Now they’ve begun transmitting wi-fi signals to the moon, just in case aliens can’t access their Facebook accounts. Joking aside, the test was designed to find out if future humans could get the internet if they lived on the moon. The answer is “yes” apparently.
San Jose Cemetery, Grenada
Grenada is a famous holiday destination in Spain, best known for its sandy beaches and great weather. Of course, like any place where there are people, it has a cemetery. And that wouldn’t be very interesting on its own, except for the fact that this cemetery has wi-fi. Apparently, visitors to the cemetery demanded that they have access to the internet while paying tribute to the deceased. Strange, but true.
National Parks, Canada
As soon as you go north of the large cities, Canada opens up into a vast, untamed wilderness. It’s the last place on Earth you’d expect to be able to get access to the internet. But thanks to a network of wi-fi hotspots, it’s now possible. The Canadian government came to the realisation that people would enjoy its parks more if there were internet access. So they started installing hundreds of wi-fi points all across the nation’s national parks.