Phone shop at Za'atari's Syrian refugee camp in Jordan. Source: Zaa'tari Refugee Camp Facebook page. Smartphones have become a lifeline for refugees during their long journey for the relative safety of Europe, as they are used for communication and organization through social media and websites. However, a smartphone has its limitations because its battery can only last anywhere between 12-48 hours and it is subject to the national network coverage or available wifi hotspots. Tyler Jump from the International Rescue Committee wrote in a recent Medium piece about a refugee's first questions when they reach Europe. One of them, he said, is “Do you have WiFi?” Connecting with family is a top priority for newly arrived refugees who want their loved ones to know they are safe. Refugees rely heavily on access to the internet to communicate, but there are many hurdles in their way. Researcher Linda Leung defined some of the challenges facing refugees in her paper “Taking refuge in technology: communication practices in refugee camps and immigration detention.” Though the study was of refugees in Australia, refugees in Europe likely also face many of the same difficulties: It was difficult to earn money in the camp to afford to communicate. People who owned mobile phones rented them out. Some people were worried that their family or friends were under surveillance by their enemies. Refugees can feel distressed if there is no news. In some places internet cafes are too expensive to use. Sometimes refugees cannot access any technology whatsoever. Instead, many refugees resorted to traditional forms of communication through messengers, who were used to pass on news and hand-deliver letters to loved ones. Disaster Tech Lab is a startup offering WiFi infrastructure building in disaster recovery areas and makeshift refugee camps. These were the signs being setup around the camp to indicate presence of internet connectivity. The map of hotspot locations is also visible. Mytilene, Moria camp, 29/12/2015. Photo by Chris Gioran and used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. In addition to these challenges, many refugees may fall victim to those trying to profit off of these hardships. Leung found that a type of black market appeared to appear at many refugee camps: Displaced people are at the mercy of those who can afford to own communication technology and who control access to it. The expense of using communication technology can markedly increase when the owners of mobile phones in refugee camps become corrupt or phone booths in town are controlled by the black market. To address these challenges, some individuals are offering their help to the refugees seeking communication. Ilias Papadopoulos, a Greek electrical engineer, provided a free internet connection for everyone in Idomeni, a small Greek town located on the border with Macedonia. This YouTube video describes how he created a set-up to offer this service for free: He saw that most refugees had smartphones, but without SIM cards or any reliable connection, they had no real way to communicate. So he decided to help one way that could benefit most. Several startups and NGOs have also attempted to respond to the call for greater communication access for refugees. The organization The Disaster Tech Lab based in Ireland has been deploying wifi networks in the Moria and Kara Tepe refugee camps in Lesvos, Greece. They note that over 400,000 refugees have utilized their network during their stay in the camps. They add: In addition to the obvious benefits of being able to stay in contact with their friends and family there is also the requirement that asylum applications have to be made via a Skype call. In addition to this schools and learning centers are being set up now that the camps are semi-permanent and these of course all require internet access. Other groups have made it priority to provide internet access at reception centers in Western Europe, since the government often does not budget for internet access in accommodations. The German organization Refugees Online e.V. first project was providing free wifi connectivity at the refugee reception unit at Fliegerhorst in Fuerstenfeldbruck, and now the project has expanded to 95 facilities across the country. In addition to the access, the organization also provided training and an online learning platform for asylum seekers. And a start-up company is in the process of developing of what they call an “autonomous rugged wifi hotspot for outdoors and crisis areas.” The company, called MeshPoint, is working to raise the funds to build the prototype for launch where it is needed most.