Connection quality and quantity vary significantly from country to country. With less than five percent penetration, Cuba stands out, but its citizens don't give up despite the lack of infrastructure and high costs. One of the most popular solutions is the so-called “Weekly Package”, loaded with entire terabytes extracted from the Web and distributed on external hard drives across the island.
While there is much to admire about the human race, its ability to adapt to complex conditions ranks high on the list. In this era of hyperconnectivity and advanced technology, web access is completely natural for us, but there are regions where users must be a bit more creative to stay informed. In Africa, we've seen “service stations” for mobile phones, where owners can recharge batteries for a fixed fee. When it comes to getting data, there's no better option than the oldest trick in the book: sharing disks. In the days of BBS and 33.6k modems, diskette swapping was the rule. However, a much more modern and striking example is in Cuba.
The article published by The Guardian explains that the official name is “Weekly Package”. In short, a person with high-speed web access prepares a massive compilation of information, including TV series episodes, magazines, complete copies of Wikipedia, Android games, antivirus databases, and documentaries. The service behind the weekly package is about one terabyte per week, and the latest Friday update can cost 17 dollars in the market, a sum only affordable to those dedicated to reselling the package. If the buyer doesn't have enough resources, there's the option to purchase earlier versions, which, while delayed by several days, are still useful.
Even so, the Weekly Package is not a perfect solution. The Web is a dynamic environment, and with elements like blogging and social networks, Cuban citizens must sacrifice communication capacity in favor of updated data. There's also a legal issue. Both distributors and consumers say the Weekly Packages operate in a gray zone. The market has managed to exclude certain types of material, and so far authorities haven't intervened. Besides proving that the sneakernet concept works, Cuba has turned it into a lucrative business where everyone seems to benefit.
The Guardian
