Microdownloads � the future of downloading anything over 10 MB for the Third World
Downloading even a video of 700MB is a tricky job from any third world destination. Imagine trying to download project gutenberg or Wikipedia for Schools � plain impossible. 20 GB torrents I dont even dare to try.
Therefore the lucky among us get some friend and/or volunteer in the west to download the stuff, burn it to one or many DVDs and airmail it to us here in the back of beyond on Connectivity Hell.
The price per GB is coming down it seems in the Third World � here in Botswana Orange have reduced it effectively to $20/GB ($10/GB if you are lucky) over a 3G wireless connection. But the ability to download large stuff is still a problem. Of course the most economic option is usually a fixed line with ADSL and hopefully an uncapped contract. But some of those connections are literally up and down like yo-yo’s and are very incapable of downloading anything of any size.
The solution? There are several of course:
1. The western airmailed DVD download as per above
2. get large stuff delivered somehow and loaded onto servers in cybercafes in capital cities in the third world as single large files (e.g. 4.3GB ISO files) which can take less than 1 minute each to download from the internet cafe’s INTRANET to a USB flash drive or external HDD
3. use the features of 7zip � a free windows compression utility � to split say a 4.3 GB iso file into about 2600 chunks. Use Free Download Manager or equivalent to download those 2600 chunks of 1.44 MB. If the website hosting those files has restrictions then rename those 2600 from .001 to .001.zip etc.. rename if necessary from .2600.zip to .2600 and reconstitute using 7zip
All 3 solutions have mileage, depending on what you are downloading or disseminating…..
By the way, people who tell you that connectivity in the Third World is getting better and there is no need for such solutions � BS….
Alex Weir, alexweir1949@gmail.com
http://cd3wd.com/microdownloads/
tel +26772092005
Gaborone, Botswana, 15 August 2013
PS � we at http://cd3wd.com are issuing approximately 76GB of core content as microdownloads before 2013/10 � October 2013
alexweir1949 
Hi Alex,
I was wondering why you recommend the use of a program like 7Zip to split the file into tiny chunks for distribution, but are unwilling to work with torrents? Torrents do the exact same thing (splitting a file into smaller, easily transferrable chunks), but have the advantage of allowing users to download from multiple servers at any time. This means that bottlenecks between the original uploader and any individuals downloading the file could be overcome by connections between the downloaders.
I would love to hear why you are unwilling to use torrenting software.
Kind Regards,
Samuel
ur absolutely right. Here in Mombasa just spot on. But there is a lot of fibre optic cabling . Perhaps in due course the situation will change
It is now 8 December 2013 & we at http://cd3wd.com/ have started uploading microdownloads. The process is working nicely. I see it as the future for downloading medium and large files in the Third World. Alex Weir, Gaborone
Hi sam, sorry for delay in replying. We also supply torrents but regard that as the best solution for people with good connectivity. The people we are really trying to get to have crap connectivity. Therefore we are “walking on 2 legs” as the Chinese saying goes…..