A note from the Caribbean... worth a read. Yacine Khelladi wrote:
> > Taken from > http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/html/20050319T220000-0500_77187_OBS_PHONE_HEX.asp > > > Yacine's note: after long cel phone talk it asks wisely "If > information communications technology (ICT) is critical for our > development, where are the associated programmes to make it happen?" > > > =========================== > > Phone hex > Tamara Scott-Williams > Sunday, March 20, 2005 > > (Polyphonic ring tone) > "Wha gwan?" > "Nutten, wha gwan wid you?" > "Nutten." > "Why you never link me?" > "Nutten." > "My credit finish, call me back." > "Alright." > Tamara Scott-Williams > > (Downloaded, top-10, polyphonic ring tone) > > "Hello?" > "A me, man. Wha gwan?" > "Nutten nah gwan..." > "Weh you deh?" > "Mi deh bout." > "Everything alright?" > "Everything cool." > "Alright." > "Link you later." > > For this type of stimulating conversation we each pay thousands of > dollars every year. Not only do we give out home, home fax, home > e-mail, office, office fax, office e-mail numbers and addresses, we > give out our cellular numbers too. All of them. Our 'Digi' and > b-mobile and Miphone numbers. > > And then we give out our husband's numbers, or the numbers of the > people we'll be with when we suspect the caller will call, just in > case they can't reach us on our multiple cellular numbers. > And then when the call finally comes, the caller's opening words are > always: "I cyan find you!!" > > It's gotten crazy, these multiple ways of communicating with each > other. And we're not really communicating too well either on our cell > phones, we're just "touching base", because often when you call > someone on their cellular they (1) "are in a meeting and can't talk > now", or (2) they're going through a BAD AREA and can't hear you, or > (3) they "cahn't take your cawll right nowoo" as they're on another > line, or (4) you can't hear them, or (5) the call is dropped, or (6) > they have to know if you are a b-mobile, Digicel, Miphone or landline > user and then THEY WILL CALL YOU BACK from an appropriate phone to > save money on the call. > > Number 5 is especially the worst. Requiring you to make two, if not > three cellular calls just to finish up a hurried, just-touching-base > conversation. Think it's a terrible racket? I do. > > So I read in detail the new phone package that one service > provider is offering. The campaign has been in high gear for this > phone company, cranking out full page ads and full colour fliers, and > inserting teaser ads on every page of a newspaper, and changing to > green the mast head colour of the same newspaper to promote their new > mobile phone charge packages. > > In all my simplicity I can't figure out if any of it is meaningful to > me: I can top up 24 hours per day at one bank, get five per cent free > credit, get up to 150 free text messages, get free nights and > weekends, and get cheaper calls BUT ONLY if I select the right cell > plan. And if I select the right cell plan I have to know the cell plan > of the people I'm calling, because my great savings are not always > transferable to another network. > > I read of another service provider charging calls at $1.00 per minute. > Now that's a bargain, I thought. Time to add some credit to my other > cellular phone, I thought. Only to read further into the press release > that the reduced price would only be on calls made between 11:00 pm > and 5:59:00 am. > > Hardly a bargain for someone who uses their cellular phone during > normal business hours. It used to be that calling anyone after 9:00 or > 10:00 pm was done only in an emergency. Now, calling up people in the > middle of the night is standard operating procedure IF you want to > save a few dollars. > > Please, I just want to make ONE successful cellular phone call during > normal phone-calling times. Albeit I'd love to make it on one of those > hybrid digital camera-personal digital-assistant-e-mail > messenger-music player cellular phones that they have now. But first I > have to figure out what a TDMA is. > > We are the number one Caribbean island in terms of "tele-density". Up > to two years ago, Jamaica was ranked number three by the International > Telecommunications Union in terms of per capita use of cellular service. > > "We want to be number one," said technology and industry minister > Phillip Paulwell in 2003. "Jamaicans love to talk and we are going to > be number one." At the same time, he lamented the lack of Internet > access, citing that despite having 1.4 million telephone lines, only > two per cent of the Jamaican population have access to the Internet - > a statistic which, he said, would have to change if specific economic > opportunities are to be pursued. > > If information communications technology (ICT) is critical for our > development, where are the associated programmes to make it happen? > > Two years later we are probably number one, but we're probably still > lagging in the access to Internet department. We just want a cell > phone. We so badly want to be number one that we're stabbing high > school girls to death and robbing them of their cell phones. > > Little wonder, according to World Bank figures, that people in poor > countries spend a larger proportion of their income on > telecommunications than those in rich countries. The world's poorest > people have the most cellular phones - it's the one way we can keep up > with technology that doesn't call for heavy investment in equipment, > that does not rely on electricity supply and that doesn't require us > to be able to read and write. Mobile phones are important, but so is > health care, and most importantly education. > > The cover of last week's Economist magazine says it all: a poor, > jaundiced boy holding a mud-fashioned cellular phone to his ear. He > probably hasn't eaten much, but he has his cellular phone. For all I > know, he might be a little Jamaican boy who just loves to talk. > > > > > ================================================= > Your ICA-Caribbean virtual working group > http://www.dgroups.org/groups/icacaribbean/ > > The Caribbean ICT Roundtable, Barbados October 28-30, 2002 > http://www.icamericas.net/workshops/caribbean/ > > --- You are currently subscribed to $substCaribbean ('List.Name') as: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > -- Taran Rampersad [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.linuxgazette.com http://www.a42.com http://www.knowprose.com http://www.easylum.net "Criticize by creating." — Michelangelo _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
