Ain't rural here in Hell (Fresno), California, but I'd much prefer some competition to Comcast and farm land is less than a mile away. Pretty please! (We were runner up for first Google fibre.)
Google says Loony broadband balloons are 'nearly perfect'
Google is promising that its Project Loon balloon-broadband initiative is ready to go and wants to announce its first operator partners in Africa soon. Last Friday, Google [x] regional business lead Wael Fakharany told the GSMA Mobile 360 conference in South Africa the company has “almost perfected” the Loon technology. …
COMMENTS
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Tuesday 13th October 2015 10:24 GMT DropBear
Re: Who's going to clean up after them?
"All of these will, eventually, come down somewhere which may not be easily accessible, leaving a mess for someone to clean up..."
The whole idea behind the project is that they can take advantage of wind conditions at different altitudes to exert a reasonable amount of control over which way the balloons go and where exactly they land if there's no suitable "return wind" and they have to be brought down. I wouldn't expect them to land on a dime, but I'd think the large spaces meant to be covered would provide suitably large landing opportunities...
"The balloons are going to be tethered to the ground"
Care to point to a citation for that, mate?
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Tuesday 13th October 2015 09:36 GMT Anonymous Coward
Yes
the real clouds you can see are below the balloon, and your signal gets through the clouds to the balloon and on to the cloud, yes.
No you stay one the ground, and your phone too.
Well we don't as much steer the balloon as make it go up and down.
No the wind in your village should not affect reception.