Rural internet - offline but still connected

In one school that operates the courier system, the principal is the “mule”, stopping on his drive to and from work at another school that does have an Internet connection to pick up the day's data.

Wood says Wizzy Digital's ethos is to allow schools to work out for themselves what they want.

"You can see what the web has, you can whet your appetite or use a whole set of technologies: word processors, spreadsheets etc, try it out and see what you find interesting … Get used to it, raise your children aware of it and they will use it for things that they need."

Asynchronous access projects have a lot of potential, though they are still few and far between. And they could struggle until people find ways to make them useful and adapt them to local needs.

United Villages certainly sees a future in digitally connecting remote communities. They plan to reach two billion people with digital networks by 2015. They're going to need more than a few extra buses to do that.