Google may be planning to deploy its Project Loon balloons above the United States:
Google appears to be planning to test its Project Loon internet balloons across the entire US, according to recent documents filed with the FCC.
The company has asked the Federal Communications Commission for a license to test experimental radios that use wireless spectrum in the millimeter bandwidth in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Google said it wants to begin the tests on January 1 for a period of 24 months.
The testing could indicate that Google is broadening its ambitions for providing consumers with internet access through the special balloons developed in its secretive X Labs.
Project Loon is Google's plan to operate a fleet of solar-powered balloons — flying at an altitude of 60,000 to 90,000 feet — that are capable of beaming internet access down to the earth. Google has described the project as a way to bring internet access to people in developing economies and regions of the world that lack communications infrastructure.
[...] More tellingly, the filing notes that Google's latest request for an experimental license is for continued development of previous tests, in which the company also acquired experimental licenses from the FCC. According to the previous filings that Google references, those tests were conducted in Winnemucca, Nevada.
Winnemucca is a remote town of roughly 7,000 in Nevada, and its attractions include a small brothel district known as "The Line" and an annual Basque festival, according to Wikipedia. But in August 2014, one month before Google's first FCC request for a license to test in Winnemucca, the published minutes of the Winnemucca City Council contain a proposal to let Google use its airport industrial park as a "temporary balloon launching facility."
The most recent Google FCC filings indicated that Google wants to use frequencies in the 71 GHz to 76 GHz range and in the 81 GHz to 86 GHz range.
Previously: Google Releases New Project Loon Video
Google to Provide Sri Lanka with 3G Internet Using Balloons
Related Stories
Google's high-altitude (stratospheric) balloon wireless provider system, Project Loon, has released a publicity video, including interesting shots of balloons, mission control, and a balloon factory, New Zealand mountains and all that goodness. It is a publicity video, so not much detail here. They claim the balloons now last in the air for ~100 days, and their factory can produce one balloon in a "few hours".
I'm not the biggest fan of Google but they do have some cool projects going.
Google is teaming up with Sri Lanka to provide 3G mobile Internet to the entire nation using Google's Project Loon high-altitude balloons:
"The entire Sri Lankan island – every village from (southern) Dondra to (northern) Point Pedro – will be covered with affordable high speed Internet using Google Loon's balloon technology," said Samaraweera, who is also IT minister. Officials said local Internet service providers will have access to the balloons, reducing their operational costs.
Muhunthan Canagey, head of local authority the Information and Communication Technology Agency, said he expected Google to have finished sending up the balloons by next March. "Service providers will be able to access higher speeds and improve the quality of their existing service once the balloon project is up and running," Canagey told AFP. "We can also expect prices to come down," he said after he signed the agreement with Michael Cassidy, a Google vice president.
[...] Google plans to keep the balloons aloft in the stratosphere for 100 days, transmitting Internet signals to the ground, and with their movements guided by an algorithmic formula. Tests were carried out in New Zealand in 2013.
Official figures show there are 2.8 million mobile Internet connections and 606,000 fixed line Internet subscribers among Sri Lanka's more than 20 million population. Sri Lanka became the first country in South Asia to introduce mobile phones in 1989 and the first to roll out a 3G network in 2004. It was also the first in the region to unveil a 4G network two years ago.
One of the Google X "moonshots", a plan to use solar-powered drone aircraft to provide Internet connectivity to rural areas, has been axed. Some of the engineers may be reassigned to Project Loon and other efforts:
Back in 2014 Google (now Alphabet) bought Titan Aerospace, a company specializing in solar-powered drones that could fly at high altitudes for long periods of time. The goal was to offer internet access to rural areas that lacked connectivity by beaming it down from on high. In that way it was similar to another moon shot, Project Loon, and to Facebook's Aquila.
Today, however, Alphabet confirmed to Business Insider that it had ended its exploration of solar-powered drones. In fact according to a spokesperson, the project ended almost a year ago. That would make it part of a big group of setbacks for X, formerly X Labs, the incubator for wild ideas that has suffered under the strict financial discipline being imposed by Alphabet and its CFO, Ruth Porat. Bloomberg offered a rundown of the high-level departures that have occurred since the creation of Alphabet as a holding company and the separation of X from Google
Also at 9to5Google and Bloomberg.
Previously: Google Releases New Project Loon Video
Google to Provide Sri Lanka with 3G Internet Using Balloons
Facebook's Laser Drones v Google's Net-Beaming Balloons
Google May Test Balloon Internet Service Over the United States
Google Testing Project Loon: Concerns Are Without "Factual Basis"
Google Asks for Airspace Access for Internet Balloons
Instead of using balloons or drones, Alphabet/Google X plans to create a backbone of fixed boxes that communicate using lasers in order to deliver Internet access in Andhra Pradesh. Users would connect to the end points wirelessly:
Alphabet's X Lab has cooked up yet another Internet connectivity scheme, according to a report from Reuters. Past efforts have involved floating Internet balloons and laying lots of fiber optic cable, but this Internet delivery system sends data over laser beams! This isn't an experimental system like Project Loon; India's Andhra Pradesh state government has signed an agreement with Alphabet to bring the technology to millions of people starting next year.
[...] Alphabet's rollout in India will involve fitting "2,000 boxes installed as far as 20 kilometers (12 miles) apart on posts and roofs" according to the report. The optical system is expected to hit 20 Gbit/s from box to box and would serve as a backbone, replacing more expensive technologies like fiber optics. The final connection to users would happen over Wi-Fi or cellular.
Related: Google May Test Balloon Internet Service Over the United States
Google Kills Off Titan Internet Drone "Moonshot"
Alphabet Deploys Project Loon Balloons to Puerto Rico
Balloons Provide Internet Service to 100,000 People in Puerto Rico
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday November 27 2015, @10:01PM
no bittorrent service, I figure that's probably for the best as I have many neighbors. Aside from that, generous bandwidth.
Last night I rofflecoptered when I stumbled across "Homeless Network". I expect I can get the password if I ask the guy in the tent next to mine.
Most homeless use Android phones, but I use an iPhone because I drank the Kool-Ade.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Funny) by BK on Saturday November 28 2015, @12:28AM
So basically they are just sending up a trial balloon... Seems reasonable.
...but you HAVE heard of me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 29 2015, @09:01PM
We'll "bring the internet to the masses"... (as long as they use OUR services so WE can sell them to advertisers... so no 'full and unfeathered' internet for you. Just *.google.com, maybe wikipedia. But no facebook.com, instead, you get a free G+ account you can use instead)