high speed internet for St. Helena Island, petition

[Denorth]

not sure if it is correct cutegory, but I would say it is (economy and politics)

due to my work I am often in contact with a British island of St. Helena. It is an island in the middle of Atlantic Ocean with the only connection to mainland in form of the Royal Mail Ship. If you want to travel there there is no airplane you can take. it takes (in modern world) at least two weeks to get there. Any mail is sent on the ship to Capetown. Just try to imagine this kind of 'speed' in modern world. Right now it is the most remote place in the world.

There is no highspeed internet connection to the island and currently a fibre-optic cable is to be put with no plan to connect it to the island.
I just want to ask British participants of this forum to sign petitiion if they feel like doing it.

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/28049

http://www.connectsthelena.org/

EDIT: spelling.... shame on me

Edited by Denorth on Sunday 19th February 08:55

[poo at Paul's]

i bet its fabulous without!

[Hoofy]

Wikipedia says they have a broadband connection!

[Perd Hapley]

Telegram

PLEASE SEND INTERNET STOP HAVE BEEN DOWNLOADING EUROPE FINAL COUNTDOWN MP3 OFF NAPSTER SINCE 1999 STOP STILL ONLY 1.2MB COMPLETED STOP

[davepoth]

Hoofy said:

Wikipedia says they have a broadband connection!

Yes. One 10mbps broadband connection. For 4,000 people. Here's some detail.

http://stopthecap.com/2012/02/06/your-internet-cou...

It'd be a lovely idea for them - there is literally nothing to do at all on St. Helena, and a fast internet connection could really help their economy, probably more than an airport would.

[0a]

They need to move the cable by 100km according to the website. How expensive would that be? Can't they just use a long patch cable?

[davepoth]

0a said:

They need to move the cable by 100km according to the website. How expensive would that be? Can't they just use a long patch cable?

They're talking less than £10m, which is about what we gave the banks in the length of time it just took me to fart.

[poo at Paul's]

davepoth said:

0a said:

They need to move the cable by 100km according to the website. How expensive would that be? Can't they just use a long patch cable?

They're talking less than £10m, which is about what we gave the banks in the length of time it just took me to fart.

Yes, but what have the St Helenan's ever done for us?

[davepoth]

poo at Paul's said:

Yes, but what have the St Helenan's ever done for us?

They killed Napoleon with arsenic laced wallpaper, that was a pretty good effort.

[0a]

davepoth said:

0a said:

They need to move the cable by 100km according to the website. How expensive would that be? Can't they just use a long patch cable?

They're talking less than £10m, which is about what we gave the banks in the length of time it just took me to fart.

£2,500 per person then! If that's the case it seems fair enough as it should last 20 years and save on stamps

[davepoth]

0a said:

£2,500 per person then! If that's the case it seems fair enough as it should last 20 years and save on stamps

You have to look at it in the round with all the money we currently spent on the island anyway - they have no industry (since their fish factory burnt down) and because there's no airport there is virtually no tourism either. So they are utterly dependent on UK government aid and remittances from people who have emigrated.

[mybrainhurts]

Denorth said:

I just want to ask British participants of this forum to sing petitiion

Don't know the tune. You hum it, I'll sing it...

[0a]

Ok I'll approve the invoice on the system when it's flagged up.

Next?

[normalbloke]

My mother was born there. Moved to Capetown when she was 17 as the prospects were somewhat limited...

[Jasandjules]

I want fast broadband here let alone there....

[jaybirduk]

Sorry but fast broadband is not a right, it has to be commercially viable and if businesses don't want to put it in then tough.

I certainly don't think this warrants a Gov epetition!

What next? St Helena want a Disneyland and the UK Gov should fund that too?

[sinizter]

I'll petition for fast broadband in my part of Suffolk first. As soon as that is done, I'll pop by to sign this one.

[Eric Mc]

I thought St Helena was SUPPOSED to be a place where there was no contact with the outside world. Ask Napoleon.

[Denorth]

davepoth said:

0a said:

£2,500 per person then! If that's the case it seems fair enough as it should last 20 years and save on stamps

You have to look at it in the round with all the money we currently spent on the island anyway - they have no industry (since their fish factory burnt down) and because there's no airport there is virtually no tourism either. So they are utterly dependent on UK government aid and remittances from people who have emigrated.

burnt factory? this is news to me unless we are talking about different things. So far the factory I know (precessing and freezing localy caught tuna and some other species) has been working fine for several years providing local fishermen with steady mean of actual earning rather than getting money from the governement.
otherwise, luck of industry is devastating. due to distance and difficulty to reach not many investors want to put money into anything there.

hopefully airport will help them to establish good tourist destination since right now many people want but don't go there since it takes a lot of hustle to get there

Edited by Denorth on Sunday 19th February 08:55

[Denorth]

jaybirduk said:

Sorry but fast broadband is not a right, it has to be commercially viable and if businesses don't want to put it in then tough.

I certainly don't think this warrants a Gov epetition!

What next? St Helena want a Disneyland and the UK Gov should fund that too?

right now there is a chance to move the cable that is to be place on the bottom of the ocean anyway and connect the island. if it's not done in 4-5 years governement will decide to connect island with high speed internet anyway and will have to put a new cable for the whole way from South America or Africa and we will pay for the whole lenght.