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Hello, this is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil.

And I'm Sam.

Now, if you're old enough to remember the early days of dial-up internet,

then you'll know the unforgettable sound of the handshake.

The clicks and squeaks your computer made as it struggled to connect to the internet

through the telephone line.

Yes, I remember that strange noise.

Dial-up internet was slow and websites took forever to load.

And because you couldn't use both the internet and the telephone at the same time,

this was usually followed by someone shouting,

get off the computer. I'm making a phone call.

In the 30 years since then, the internet has changed dramatically.

Fiber optics and broadband have created superfast internet speeds

and an interconnected online world where physical distances between people

are no longer a barrier to communication,

a situation expressed in the phrase the global village.

But take a closer look and you'll still find people around the world with a slow connection

or no internet at all.

In this programme, we'll be finding out about how some communities are working together to fix

their internet connection problems for the benefit of local people.

...