Egyptians turn to faxes, dial-up modems and Google's web-free tweeting
Faced with an internet blackout, Egyptians are turning to old technology, and the cutting-edge.
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Since January 27, internet access is Egypt has been progressively blacked out.
Today, the government ordered the sole remaining ISP, Noor, offline.
Yet inventive Egyptians are finding ways around the net ban, the BBC reports.
Fax machines and ham radios have been used for talking to the outside world.
And dial-up modems have been dragged out of cupboards. They may be super-slow compared to today's broadband connections (kids, ask your parents), but they can be used to connect to international numbers via a standard phone line - allowing Egyptians to post to social networks like Twitter.
Meanwhile, Google has come to the party by dint of its new acquisition Say Now (bought only last week), whose technology allows a phone message to be turned into a tweet.
Egyptians can call one of three international numbers (listed on Google's official blog). A link to their voice message is then automatically posted to Twitter - allowing Egyptians to tweet without any web connection whatsoever.
Read more about SayNow here.
NBR staff
Wed, 02 Feb 2011
Wed, 02 Feb 2011
© All content copyright NBR. Do not reproduce in any form without permission, even if you have a paid subscription.
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Egyptians turn to faxes, dial-up modems and Google's web-free tweeting
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