Mobile phones can be charged through text message.
Cell phones are popular even in places that have very little infrastructure to maintain the necessary aspects of owning a phone.
People who live in remote areas with no access to electricity, except for solar powered generators, sometimes have to travel very far to find a source to recharge their batteries.
Now they can charge their cell phones by sending a text message.
Buffalo Grid in London, England has come up with a portable solar charging station that is turned on by sending a text message.
The charging station is carried around in villages by workers on bicycles so that cell phone users don’t have to travel far distances to utilize the service.
The workers can charge up to 20 phones a day using this system.
The fee for sending a text message activates the charging station and pays for the power needed to fill up the cell phone battery.
People in Uganda pay the equivalent of about 20 cents to charge their phone, which is a lot considering most workers make about a dollar a day.
