[Infowarrior] - Pitcairn Island doubles bandwidth to 512kbps

[Richard Forno]

Pitcairn Island to double bandwidth to 512kbps among 48 people

By Cyrus Farivar | Published about an hour ago

http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2012/04/pitcairn-island-to-double-bandwidth-to-512-kbps-amongst-48-people.ars

Pitcairn Island, one of the world’s most isolated, storied, and fascinating communities has doubled its Internet access to 512kbps, to be shared among its 48 residents.

The island, of course, is home to the modern descendants of the infamous 1789 "mutiny on the Bounty" story, which involved the British ship the HMS Bounty. Many books and films have been created to capture the story of a band of mutineers as they eluded the British Navy and set up shop on this remote island in the south Pacific.

According to a report last month from Radio New Zealand International, the United States Geological Survey has a seismic station on the island, and pays for a satellite Internet connection for the station. Locals pay NZ$100 ($81) per month for up to 2GB of data. A team from the United States is set to travel to Pitcairn in June to upgrade the satellite link.

Many Pitcairn Islanders are direct descendants of Fletcher Christian, the leader of the the 18th-century group of mutineers. Despite their historic ties and home in one of the most remote corners of the globe, these islanders are no luddites. In October 2010, the first iPad arrived on the island. It went to Andrew Christian—naturally, a seventh-generation descendant of Christian.

"They’re able to sell their products online such as honey, carvings, collectible items that people around the world are interested in buying," said Bill Haigh, manager of the .pn domain name, in an  interview with Radio NZ. "Just the ability to reach out and find new markets has been an enormous boost to them."

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Just because i'm near the punchbowl doesn't mean I'm also drinking from it.