Well, it's been a long time since my first post, but here we go again...

@dragmor
As Wirelesh replied to you, satellite phones are expensive and inefficient for the day to day use. For nomades it would be the best option, but our projects involve institutions (municipalities, schools, institutes, etc) who are static and make lots of calls. Even more, we not only provide them the call service, but access to internet too, in fact, internet is the main service.

We have some problems with our hosting provider and lost our domain (cediter.org), so if you want to know more about our projects you could visit www.cediter.com (I'm redesigning it ;-) )

Hi there... I wanted to send you a mail but I didn't find your address...well, I'm a member of a group of students, here in Cusco-Peru, which works exactly in what you propose, the group is called CEDITER (www.cediter.org www.cediter.com). Our area is mountainous and has a lot of villages in the valleys like the target area you described. We already implemented some nets helping a bigger group called GTR. If you need some help we will be glad to give you all the information we can.

Hope to hear from you

Sergio Ccahuana G.

PD. Sorry if you find some errors in the post, I'm forgetting how to write in English :P

Not to knock your projects which has worthy aims, but why don't you go the easier route for linking remote villages and give each village a Satellite phone and a solar charger?

The Ericsson R 290 http://www.highspeedsat.com/r290.htm or similar is used in most remote outback communities in Australia, its also used as an emergency system for mobs following their traditional nomadic lifestyle. From what I've seen they mostly use the SMS since its cheaper and can pass the information they need to.

Your system seems to have larger goals and a mesh network would have many advantages down the line if the distances between the villages and the terrain wasn't a major factor.

Sounds like an interesting project. Can't wait to read how it evolves.