Connectivity

Basics

Find out whether the intended users can get online where and when they would use the tool, and at the speed it needs. Connectivity means a person's own access to a mobile network or the internet src-018 p26. It has three parts: a network signal, a type of network fast enough for the use case (for example 2G, 3G or 4G), and a SIM card that still works src-018 pp26-28. Coverage varies between countries, between towns and rural areas, and between groups such as women and men src-039 p51; src-032 p9. Access can also fall as well as rise, with the seasons, after a drought or during political unrest src-032 p9.

Why it matters for AI tools

A tool tested in an office with good internet may behave very differently for users on a weak signal. NetHope's checklist for choosing an AI tool asks how the tool behaves as the network gets worse src-011 p11. A tool that only works on a fast, steady connection will reach the users who are already best connected, and leave out the rest src-024 p6. What works in one country may be impossible next door: an early guide from Plan contrasts widespread mobile internet in South Africa with its absence at the time in Togo and Mali src-039 p51.

Connectivity also decides what the tool can do. A team building an online course found its users wanted offline access, and chose downloadable or low-bandwidth content as a result src-031 p8.

What good evidence looks like

• Data on the intended users' own connectivity, from a survey or direct observation, not only an operator's coverage map. Coverage maps show where infrastructure exists, not whether a given person gets a signal src-018 pp26-27. High coverage can sit alongside wide gaps between town and countryside and between rich and poor src-038 p12.
• Network type and signal strength recorded where users would actually use the tool, ideally observed by a trained data collector, since many people find these hard to report src-018 pp26-27.
• Whether users have a working SIM, and whether they use more than one. Some prepaid SIMs lapse a few months after the last top-up src-018 pp28-29; src-032 p10.
• How often the network drops in a given place, and whether that is local or variable src-032 p16.
• How connectivity differs by group: rural and urban, women and men, and by season or during crises src-039 p51; src-032 p9.
• A stated target for uptime and offline use, and a plan for how the tool behaves when the connection is poor src-007 p30; src-011 p11.
• Pilot sites chosen to reflect real connectivity, not the best-connected locations src-007 pp40-41.

How to find out

Desk research and key informant interviews for national coverage, network operators and the market src-032 pp15-16. Short survey questions, or direct observation by a data collector, for network type, signal strength and SIM status at the user's own location; the EDiT guide offers question wording, some of it cognitively tested in India, Kenya and Nigeria src-018 pp26-29. Focus groups for how often the network fails and how people cope src-032 p16. A simple decision tree from Plan asks first whether power and connectivity exist; if not, the costs may outweigh the benefits and a more accessible option may be better src-004 p17. Testing the tool on the devices and networks users actually have src-031 p8; src-007 pp40-41.

Limits and disagreements

The evidence is thin on AI. Of 12 sources, four discuss AI tools src-011 p11; src-007 pp30, 40-41; src-013 p13; src-024 p6. None reports measured performance of an AI tool on poor networks. Most of the practical guidance comes from mobile and SMS work before generative AI src-032 pp9-10; src-039 p51; src-004 p17.

Several sources are old. The SIMLab framework is from 2018 src-032 p9, and the two Plan guides carry no date but describe mobile markets of around 2010 src-039 p51; src-004 p17. Their country examples, such as Togo and Mali, will be out of date. Plan's country briefings from that period record wide gaps in internet access by income and place in Cameroon, and internet costs that were high against Kenyan incomes src-039 pp74, 79.

Sources weigh the issue differently. NetHope rates low-bandwidth working as important but not critical src-011 p11. Its guide is about staff using AI inside organisations, where office internet is more likely. For tools aimed at people in rural areas, connectivity is more likely to be a go/no-go question.

The two SIMLab documents (src-032, src-031) and the two Plan documents (src-039, src-004) each come from one publisher, so they count as two voices, not four. The detailed survey guidance comes from a single guide, tested in India, Kenya and Nigeria src-018 pp28-29.

Practitioner detail

A reading of network type or signal strength describes one phone in one place at one moment. It cannot stand for a whole area or other times of day src-018 p27. Plan for several readings across places and times if the use case depends on it.

Some people do not count WhatsApp or YouTube as using the internet. Questions about internet use work better when they name local apps as examples src-005 p3.

People who use a phone may not know the term "SIM card". Use local terms and a short explanation in survey questions src-018 p29. Whether a SIM is still valid is hard to ask about directly; the EDiT guide uses a call made or received in the last month as a proxy src-018 pp28-29.

Where people swap SIMs to get the cheapest network, check whether messages pass between networks src-032 p10. For SMS or voice fallbacks, check whether operators or aggregators can provide short codes or reverse billing, which can be slow and costly in some markets src-032 p10.