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Comments on news posted 2014-06-16 17:29:29: In June of last year Google unveiled Google Loon, the latest in a long line of similar projects that will use hot air balloons to deliver broadband and wireless services to under-served or emergency prone areas. ..

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Anzio
join:2008-11-22

1 recommendation

Anzio

Member

No thanks

Yeah... Like I would ever connect to a Google network. No thanks.
amungus
Premium Member
join:2004-11-26
America

1 recommendation

amungus

Premium Member

is it just me?

Or is this the silliest thing ever? I mean, come on. By the time you waste all the time and money on such a thing, you could've built nice fixed wireless towers that don't float away.

I just don't get the reasoning behind giving such a project any serious consideration.
ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL

1 recommendation

ISurfTooMuch

Member

Not here, no, but this could work in places like Africa, where you don't have the best infrastructure on the ground. It could also work in places where you have lots of water and want ships in the area to have access, such as the Mediterranean, the North Sea, etc.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx to amungus

Member

to amungus
Depending on where you are, fixed wireless is really hard to build...looking up presents fewer LOS issues than looking aside (e.g. to a cell or WISP tower). Plus, Google already tried the WISP thing. It's called Clearwire, and it wasn't all that great

tshirt
Premium Member
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA

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to amungus
It might work well if there were 1000s of ballons slowly rotating around the world, with each area using whichever one happened to be overhead at the time.
However given the size of the oceanic garbage patch(es) and the current level of plastic bits EVERYWHERE in our environment, continuously launching thousands of giant plastic condoms every month seems like a really terrible idea, as long as ANY other solution is possible.

why60loss
Premium Member
join:2012-09-20

why60loss

Premium Member

And this is faster than what I had last year

So google can more or less give away speeds better than what I got at Time warner cable last year. Oh how sad that is.

At lest now I am a happy Comcast customer with 36/6 for $30 a month. Far better than the 5/1 for the same amount from the other cable business called TWC. (Real world speeds, never seem to get what I pay for but oh well guess that's just cable. LOL)
rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO

rradina

Member

The Mention Using LTE...

Although 5Mbps is fantastic for somewhere that has never had connectivity, it seems rather slow unless each balloon only plans to serve a very small number of clients. Is this because they are using a very small portion of spectrum? Is it because LTE isn't optimized for ranging clients at the distances involved? (If it's 12 miles in the air and the client is 30 miles from the balloon's ground position, that would be roughly 33 miles between the client and the balloon.)

ArrayList
DevOps
Premium Member
join:2005-03-19
Mullica Hill, NJ

1 recommendation

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to Anzio

Re: No thanks

such an insightful post.

chip89
Premium Member
join:2012-07-05
Columbia Station, OH

1 recommendation

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to iansltx

Re: is it just me?

No that was Sprint...

bmccoy
join:2013-03-18
Port Orchard, WA

2 recommendations

bmccoy to Anzio

Member

to Anzio

Re: No thanks

Exactly, I'd much rather use Comcast than Google Fiber for internet. I like to support companies like Comcast who look out for everyone's privacy. /sarcasm

ArrayList
DevOps
Premium Member
join:2005-03-19
Mullica Hill, NJ

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to tshirt

Re: is it just me?

there are many materials like that that are biodegradable.

fiosultimate
join:2014-06-09
San Antonio, TX

2 edits

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to amungus

trevon martin effect

Publicity, just like google fiber, another project with no future, all publicity is good especially free publicity like skittles consumption went up after trevon martin
ptb42
join:2002-09-30
USA

ptb42

Member

Hot air balloons?

I don't know what is more absurd: that someone would think hot air balloons would actually work in this context, or repeatedly posting it even after the error has been pointed out.

tshirt
Premium Member
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA

tshirt to ArrayList

Premium Member

to ArrayList

Re: is it just me?

Yup, including a new shrimpshell-silk "plastic" for the envelope but the electronics, batteries and "steering" gear are probably not so green.
come on, Google solve the simple material science question BEFORE building an untenable/non-sustainable solution.
tshirt

1 recommendation

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to ptb42

Re: Hot air balloons?

But Karl has lots of hot air , (additional comment better left to your imagination).

fiosultimate
join:2014-06-09
San Antonio, TX

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Re: is it just me?

What and Google miss out on the free publicity? U must be joking
46436203 (banned)
join:2013-01-03

1 recommendation

46436203 (banned) to Anzio

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to Anzio

Re: No thanks

Thanks for letting us all know that you're swapping child porn or making bombs.

Because that is literally the only reason you should have to be concerned about your traffic potentially being snooped on.

They couldn't care less what legal fetish porn you watch or how much pirated traffic you push.

You are not a big fish and you are not special.
HeadSpinning
MNSi Internet
join:2005-05-29
Windsor, ON

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to ptb42

Re: Hot air balloons?

said by ptb42:

I don't know what is more absurd: that someone would think hot air balloons would actually work in this context, or repeatedly posting it even after the error has been pointed out.

I think he does it on purpose now... every time there's a Google Loon article, I always check to see if Karl says "hot air balloon" then wait for the inevitable comment...

AVD
Respice, Adspice, Prospice
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join:2003-02-06
Onion, NJ

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AVD

Premium Member

10 times

10 times zero is still zero
tabernak4
join:2013-08-10

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to amungus

Re: is it just me?

Well, they recently purchased a drone company that could be used in conjunction with these technologies.
»Google Nabs Drone Maker Facebook Sought to Buy [7] comments
"The Solara 50 and 60 models can be launched at night using power from internal battery packs, then when the sun rises, they can store enough energy to ascend to 20KM above sea level where they can remain for five years without needing to land or refuel. Such capabilities make them ideal for regional Internet systems, like those that Internet.org would be focused on."

If there's any truth those claims, it's not a stretch to see it as being a viable system if the costs can be made reasonable. Even if it's pricey, you could easily see scenarios where a system such as that could be use to provide temporary infrastructure in disaster areas.

tito79
join:2010-03-14
Port Saint Lucie, FL

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Re: 10 times

I'm in for it trust me if ever we get a huge hurricane one day I'm sure google loon will save us.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

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to chip89

Re: is it just me?

Google and Intel made significant investments in Clearwire. Not as much as Sprint did, but not chump change either.
ITGeeks
join:2014-04-20
Cleveland, OH

ITGeeks

Member

And so did ever other MSO. But Google was one of the first to give up. The same company that claimed they'd change the way people buy their cell phones. And that never happened.
ITGeeks

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to tito79

Re: 10 times

Just like they saved us from every other one?
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

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to ITGeeks

Re: is it just me?

Google's Nexus and Moto X pushes have helped companies like T-Mobile pull off no-subsidy phone pricing, actually. Maybe not in huge volume, but Google and T-Mobile have been working together since the G1 (if I recall, it was the first 3G smartphone on T-Mobile...or one of the first). Without Android, T-Mobile wouldn't be where it is today.
biochemistry
Premium Member
join:2003-05-09
92361

1 recommendation

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Re: No thanks

All you need to do is get on the wrong person's bad side and see what shows up. Or say someone accuses you of something you didn't do and their lawyer points to all the legal yet frownded upon stuff you downloaded as evidence of your culpability.

just thinkin
@68.179.223.x

just thinkin

Anon

Step one and two for use

"latest in a long line of similar projects that will use hot air balloons to deliver broadband and wireless services to under-served or emergency prone areas." Folks have already commented on underserved. This not about underserved because you can only get 5megs of speed out of your hard wired or wifi smart phone systems, it's about underserved as in 'none'. And then the emergency prone areas. Lets start with emergency prone due to natural disaster. Fire, tornado, earthquake, hurricane ends- then LAUNCH the balloons to provide a backbone of communications. One of the first things to be shut down (though not destroyed) in the Nisqually quake here in Washington state was cell phone and internet systems.

Aoxxt
join:2010-12-13
Dearborn, MI

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Re: No thanks

said by 46436203:

Thanks for letting us all know that you're swapping child porn or making bombs.

Because that is literally the only reason you should have to be concerned about your traffic potentially being snooped on.

They couldn't care less what legal fetish porn you watch or how much pirated traffic you push.

You are not a big fish and you are not special.

Nice troll post there mate.

Metatron2008
You're it
Premium Member
join:2008-09-02
united state

Metatron2008 to 46436203

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to 46436203
said by 46436203:

Thanks for letting us all know that you're swapping child porn or making bombs.

Because that is literally the only reason you should have to be concerned about your traffic potentially being snooped on.

They couldn't care less what legal fetish porn you watch or how much pirated traffic you push.

You are not a big fish and you are not special.

Cool, so you'll let us all se what you text people and open all the windows and doors of your home since you do nothing illegal right?
46436203 (banned)
join:2013-01-03

46436203 (banned)

Member

Who said anything about you?

Get top secret NSA clearance and then we'll talk.
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