Alphabet's Balloons Will Bring Cellphone Service To Puerto Rico (wired.com) 65
An anonymous reader writes:Hurricanes Irma and Maria wiped out more than 90 percent of the cellphone coverage on Puerto Rico. Now the FCC has given "Project Loon" permission to fly 30 balloons more than 12 miles above the island for the next six months, Wired reports, to temporarily replace the thousands of cellphone towers knocked down by the two hurricanes.
Each balloon can service an area of 1,930 miles, so the hope is to restore service to the entire island of Puerto Rico and parts of the U.S. Virgin Islands. In May Project Loon, part of Google's parent company Alphabet, deployed its technology in Peru and later provided emergency internet access there during serious flooding. (Those balloons were acually launched from Puerto Rico.) These new Project Loon balloons will be "relaying communications between Alphabet's own ground stations connected to the surviving wireless networks, and users' handsets," according to the article, which reports that eight wireless carriers in Puerto Rico have already consented to the arrangement.
Each balloon can service an area of 1,930 miles, so the hope is to restore service to the entire island of Puerto Rico and parts of the U.S. Virgin Islands. In May Project Loon, part of Google's parent company Alphabet, deployed its technology in Peru and later provided emergency internet access there during serious flooding. (Those balloons were acually launched from Puerto Rico.) These new Project Loon balloons will be "relaying communications between Alphabet's own ground stations connected to the surviving wireless networks, and users' handsets," according to the article, which reports that eight wireless carriers in Puerto Rico have already consented to the arrangement.
Re:Now this is real help (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously... How is Tesla sending hundreds of its Powerwall battery systems Puerto Rico.. just a marketing ploy? Tesla started sending hundreds of its standalone power banks, and some have already arrived while more are en route.
A physical product that works well in the field.
The grid is down and it will take a long time get a lot the Puerto Rico areas back on a grid that currently doesn't exist now. The powerwall is recharged by solar.
What good is a cell phone when you need power now and can't even charge a cell phone. And you need power for other necessities more than a Cell phone where they tell you help is not available now.
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We believe in you AC.
Re:Now this is real help (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:What good is a cell phone? (Score:1)
Re:Now this is real help (Score:5, Insightful)
What good is a cell phone when you need power now and can't even charge a cell phone. And you need power for other necessities more than a Cell phone where they tell you help is not available now.
I think of the reports of the "Cajun Navy" in Texas that went out to rescue people stranded by flood waters, or in need of supplies to shelter in place. The people in the "Cajun Navy" were volunteers that were not part of any larger rescue organization, they had no real plan in place and no real hierarchy. These people were able to coordinate over cell phones and internet because cell service survived or was restored quickly. The people in need of help may have cell phones in need of a charge, or no cell phone at all, but the people coming in to help could use the cell service to be more effective.
The people that planned ahead for a smaller storm, with hand crank cell phone chargers among their survival kit, would certainly appreciate cell phone service to contact family and let them know all is well (which would prevent a diversion of resources for a search and rescue of such people) or if they are in need of supplies then they can contact others to assist in their coordination.
At a minimum we have people in need of communication for their mental well being. Humans are complex social creatures and even knowing that help is not available now is better than knowing nothing at all. People need to know that there are other people out there that have not given up and are trying. Maybe some of these people will use the cell phone service to watch cat videos, but then at least this distracts from how cold and hungry they are.
Re:Now this is real help (Score:4, Insightful)
That's right, because USB ports in cars and plain old cigarette lighter car chargers and solar chargers and small generators that are already running critical equipment and the like simply do not exist.
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People could easily charge cell phones in that situation, a lot have cars. You dont even have to start them and waste gas to charge your phone from the car battery. Yank that battery out of the car, attach a car charger to it, you could likely get a months or more worth in charges off a single car battery.
Or leave the battery in place and use it the same way though the cars cigarette lighter, youll waste more power on the car's phantom loads in the accessory position, but could easily start the car every co
what's the catch? (Score:4, Interesting)
or is this just for good public relations/"corporate social responsibility" ?
sorry if my skepticism about all thing alphabet, and other big techs, offends anyone; i just can't be blind to their past track record.
btw, given we have been hyped about these balloons for years, why is there no real wide deployments(announced several times in multiple countries) up to now?
Re:what's the catch? (Score:4, Insightful)
or is this just for good public relations/"corporate social responsibility" ?
sorry if my skepticism about all thing alphabet, and other big techs, offends anyone; i just can't be blind to their past track record.
I'm sure you're completely correct --
btw, given we have been hyped about these balloons for years, why is there no real wide deployments(announced several times in multiple countries) up to now?
it's that the local carriers probably reached the tipping point where allowing another player on the field, was more in their best interest than trying to protect their monopolies in the near absence of infrastructure (including their own).
If I had to guess, I'd say Google ran Loon as a research-ish project to flush out problems and develop its feasibility. I personally think Google tries to do a lot of good. But if that's not the case, I'll concede that they may be evil; after which to be fair, I'd have to contrast their actions against those of the entire corporate (and governmental) landscape.
Re: what's the catch? (Score:1)
I would guess that the wireless carriers will pay huge roaming charges to Google until they can fix their own towers. I hope that cost won't be passed on to consumers.
Don't think there is one (Score:3)
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They are doing a good thing. I'm sure that they have some per day costs that they would otherwise charge and will take that as a tax deduction, but still a good thing.
And I'm not really sure that these things are really made for any permanent installation anywhere, so they are being used to do what they are made specifically for. I' know that groups want to use them long term in places, but I don't see them being cost effective over any long term in most places.
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i just can't be blind to their past track record.
What track record are you referring to, specifically?
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btw, given we have been hyped about these balloons for years, why is there no real wide deployments(announced several times in multiple countries) up to now?
Probably because they're not that great. Who needs balloon-based data service in non-emergency, non-disaster situations?
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The catch is they just lost a Loon lawsuit. Google tried to steal technology and patents pretending to be interested in buying out a startup.
https://www.wired.com/story/th... [wired.com]
its not the first time Google flat out steals someone elses technology, to the point of being sued for racketeering http://www.mercurynews.com/201... [mercurynews.com]
Fed up with sub-par editing... (Score:5, Informative)
...Each balloon can service an area of 1,930 miles...
How about
Each balloon can service an area of 1,930 square miles...
Bold and additions mine...
Re:Fed up with sub-par editing... (Score:4, Informative)
Well, it's a circular service area. So it would be circular miles. Or circular areolar miles, if you want to get technical.
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Each balloon can service a distance of 1,930 miles.
Each balloon can service an area of 1,930 square miles.
Each balloon can service a volume of 1,930 cubic miles.
Each balloon can service a tessera of 1,930 cubic mile-seconds.
Each balloon can service a manifold of 1,930 cubic mile-square seconds.
Each balloon can service a tangle of 1,930 cubic mile-cubic seconds.
and so on.
And people said it was useless (Score:1)
Rough Weather? (Score:2)
Everything works really great in a calm pristine environment. But maybe infrastructure is like coding, it is the exceptions that get you
I was curious (Score:1)
You owe me 27 trillion dollars (Score:2)
https://slashdot.org/comments.... [slashdot.org]
Where should I send the invoice?
Doing good deeds. (Score:1)
What does it matter WHY?
What else will these balloons do? (Score:2)
A known spying organization is deploying balloons to help the Puerto Ricans communicate in their time of need. This need is genuine and I'm sure everyone is grateful for the assistance. Therefore this sounds very nice and a good thing to do for any organization. But in light of what Google does with its services (email accounts, blog hosting, phone call proxy/rerouting, etc.) and the article's lack of describing any restrictions on this generous service, I wonder what else will the organization do with the
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Whats the use if phones are dead.? (Score:1)
In a typical emergency, power will not be restored for atleast a week. During that time phone batteries will die out. We need technology to keep phone alive during that golden (rather critical) period to save lives, contact people, help supply management by/for victims of diaster on large scale. What good is the innovation in latest pixel or powerbank.
The balloons will drift away. (Score:1)
And Those Pesky Cables? (Score:2)
Each balloon will, one presumes, be anchored and communicated with by a long cable, right?
What's to keep all those military and news helicopters and aircraft from running into the cables? They can be quite hard to see, don't you know?
Big orange balls anchored every 50 feet vertically? Good luck with that.