Keep yourself and those around you connected

When the Internet is unavailable, restore connectivity around you by becoming an Awala courier. Do it for profit, the greater good or both. The only equipment you need is a phone, a tablet or a computer.

Your job is to relay data between Awala users’ devices and the Internet during an Internet blackout. You’d have a route, and at each stop you’d deliver and collect data. When you stop at a location with no access to the Internet, you’d be able to exchange data with people around you by having them connect to your device. When you stop at a location with access to the Internet, you’d send all the data you collected and you’d then collect new data that should be delivered to people on your route.

This video is a good introduction to the job of a courier and it ends with a demo of the Android app that couriers will use:

You may collaborate with other couriers to streamline the process and collectively reach every corner of the affected region. For example, like real-world couriers, most of you may do short-distance routes to connect small areas to a sorting facility, and others would be responsible for transporting the data between the sorting facility and an area with access to the Internet.

You may charge Awala users for your services to offset costs or even make a profit. However, the software we’re currently building won’t support payments, and any trade will be strictly between you and the user. Awala may facilitate such transactions in the future.

Naturally, you have the most important job in restoring connectivity in the event of a blackout, and we understand you may be putting yourself under significant risk. For this reason, your safety has been a critical consideration throughout the design and implementation of Awala.

It’s impossible for you — or anyone who intercepts you — to view or change the data you transport. Only the sender can change it and only the recipient can view it. That means you can’t be coerced into revealing or changing anything. All you can do is delete the data, if you so wish.

We’re also working on ways to conceal the fact you’re a courier in the first place, in case you were intercepted. Such measures may not be ready by the time we start running some early testing, but they’d certainly be implemented before we make the software generally available.

Help us serve you well

We want to make sure Awala will serve you well as a courier, so please reach out to us if you have any questions, concerns or suggestions. We’re particularly keen to hear about your motivation to become a courier, so we can adapt our roadmap accordingly. Feel free to send us a private message on Facebook or Twitter.