Internet Required for retail purchases?

[peiReef7z]

paper money need central bank and central bank must be connected into internet.
less than 100 kb internet needed for using bitcoin

[stompix]

Plenty of persons care about that happens in the 3rd world.
How does Mercedes have anything to do with anything?? This thread is about bitcoin, not high-end luxury products.

They might be many but as long as they are poor as f word, nobody gives a damn.
If they barely have money to buy food, why would they need bitcoin with its fees?

You are completely missing the point. There are a huge number of people today who have NEVER flown on an airplane. Google it to find some numbers. Plenty of people do not have credit cards (by choice). Plenty don't have mobile phones. In addition to the access issue, there is a question of cost. Is it worth it for someone to pay more to have an internet plan on their phone? Is it worth it JUST to be able to make bitcoin transactions?

How do you anticipate that this issue is going to be resolved? Are entire countries going to be blanketed by availability of free Wifi? Are vendors going to start purchasing internet so that they can offer to accept bitcoin? Is the price of internet on mobile phones going to become so low that it will not be an additional cost over a minutes/texting only plan?

No, you're actually missing the point.
With all the things I've mentioned, flying watching tv, smartphones, computers, internet, NONE of them was affordable for the poor in the beggining. None.
And even if you could afford a computer or a plane ticket nobody would install optic fiber or fly you to Somalia!!!

So, the issue does not need to be "resolved".
Bitcoin is not the communist party or a totalitarian regime that needs to enforce things on everybody.
If it's economically viable it will work, if not NO, the reality of a free economy which bitcoin stands for.

Internet in the Philippines first became available on March 29, 1994, with the Philippine Network Foundation (PHNet) connecting the country and its people to Sprint in the United States via a 64 kbit/s link.[1][2][3] As of 2016, more than 44,000,000 people used the internet in the country, accounting for 43.5% of the total population.

Did you know that the Philippines is the "Texting capital of the World", everyone owns at least 2 smartphones here. Go use Google and see it for yourself.

And please get your facts straight.

Irrelevant. I just said that Philippinos are poor and that country is a 3rd world country.
Probably also illiterate since you can't understand a simple text.
So internet penetration is at 43.5%

Here is how it looks in a western country:
Share of Austria Population: 81.1 % (penetration)

So , nobody gives a damn about Phillipine. They can't even afford to pay a tx a week.
Philippines/GDP per capita   2,951.07 USD
Austria/GDP per capita  44,176.52 USD

[ToyotaFortuner]

There are still many parts of the world, including stores, taxis, but also people with smartphones, that do not have Internet. It is doubtful that even in the long-term future everyone is going to have internet on their smartphone. So how is bitcoin going to work for retail transactions? Imagine a store without public wifi. Can transactions be processed if only the vendor has Wifi?

Credit cards can work on either a phone line or internet, so it would be ubiquitous as opposed to bitcoin which cannot work on a phone line?

from your phone and internet you can open or access bitcoin and make a purchase or sale of bitcoin, so bitcoin seems to be accessible where as it takes only the internet.

[Nilda]

Bitcoins will be another mode of payment for merchants. It will co-exist with paper and plastic. Not all places have internet and some don’t want to have internet. They want to stay OFF THE GRID.

[BTCforJoe]

Here's the thing. I can't imagine people that live in areas without internet would even have access to Bitcoin in the first place. And even if they did, I don't see them converting their fiat into Bitcoin just to be able to spend Bitcoin at merchants. But to answer your question, yes. An internet connection is required for any transaction involving Bitcoin. You'll need an active connection as the buyer in order to initiate the transaction from your wallet. And as the seller, you'll need an active connection in order to confirm the transaction. Technically, the Bitcoin will reach its intended recipient without the necessity for the recipient to be online, as long as they have provided a valid BTC address.

Absence of infrastructure, including Internet connection, is the main reason why cryptocurrencies will not replace fiat in nearest future. Transactions can be made without connection, but the wallet has to be connected after that anyway.

What's your point? No one is saying that cryptocurrency will replace fiat, so did you just come here to provide us with your fud?