Google balloons, “cell towers in the sky,” can serve 4G to a whole state

<i>Google balloons, “cell towers in the sky,” can serve 4G to a state the size of Rhode Island</i> would be more accurate.<p>To have a minimum coverage, you would need 140 of them to cover Texas, ~2,000 to cover the USA, ~6,000 to cover Africa (each balloon covers ~5,000km²)

I think the last time that the Loon project item was posted here a lot of the same comments were made. I think it was verified that they are flying at the 60kft - 90kft range where the winds are typically mild and in the 20mph range. I think one problem I see with it is that ordinary smart phones won&#x27;t work because they transmit at around 100mw and they won&#x27;t reach that altitude, you will need an earth station that is capable of at least a couple of watts and presumably then it would act as perhaps a wifi hot spot to serve some remote area. I think in that scenario, then it makes sense as a way to serve remote sparse areas. You are simply not going to be able to get the capacity at that distance to serve downtown San Fran. Also, the issue of backhaul is a question mark in my mind. There is no Google fiber up there, so they will need probably some sort of Microwave link back to earth to connect to the internet. That can be problematic, those types of links are typically very directional so you might have to have steerable antenna&#x27;s at least on the earth end, which is pretty expensive to do. So I am not sure how they plan on dealing with that part.

The fun begins when people start going out to places currently not well-served by the usual mapping services -- places they normally wouldn&#x27;t think of going, without extraordinary precautions -- thinking &quot;Hey great, looks like we have this stuff everywhere now. Ain&#x27;t everything just swell, here in The Future?&quot;<p>Until of course tricky weather or something else happens, and suddenly, they don&#x27;t.<p><a href="http://www.npr.org/2011/07/26/137646147/the-gps-a-fatally-misleading-travel-companion" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.npr.org&#x2F;2011&#x2F;07&#x2F;26&#x2F;137646147&#x2F;the-gps-a-fatally-mi...</a>

Can someone confirm my guess that this is only useful in very low density regions? My impression is that cell phone data rates are limited more by how dense you need to make the cells to cover the number of users in the area (so NYC has microcells everywhere) rather than the area over which some coverage is possible for a single user.

One thing people keep overlooking is the amount of power you&#x27;d need to draw to communicate with something that is that far. Your phone&#x27;s battery would be dead in a few hours.<p>The lead of the Loon project seemed pretty positive about it when I asked him, but I guess his aim is to provide LTE to areas without any coverage at all, instead of trying to use this as a substitute for proper infrastructure.

I wonder (a) how many simultaneous connection the balloon can sustain and (b) how they&#x27;re storing power.

Considering &quot;wind speeds as high as 291 km&#x2F;h&quot; I would think that one of the greatest challenges of the Google Loon project is making sure there is always a balloon above a targeted coverage area. I would wager that unless there are an unbelievable number of balloons deployed, the coverage would be intermittent.

I wonder if they solved the whole issue of the balloons... lost to sea off the coast of NZ?<p><a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/9012282/Googles-Project-Loon-balloons-lost-at-sea" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.stuff.co.nz&#x2F;technology&#x2F;digital-living&#x2F;9012282&#x2F;Goo...</a><p><a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/10182174/Google-to-reimburse-rescue-chopper" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.stuff.co.nz&#x2F;national&#x2F;10182174&#x2F;Google-to-reimburse...</a><p><a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/60107516/googles-project-loon-balloons-fly-far-and-wide" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.stuff.co.nz&#x2F;technology&#x2F;digital-living&#x2F;60107516&#x2F;go...</a>

Wow. Rhode Island is 1&#x2F;5th the size of San Diego County, and 1&#x2F;3rd the population.

This has always been an idea&#x2F;fantasy of mine. This just shows how utterly worthless an (very valuable) idea is without execution behind it.<p>I hope that access to the web will become available for everyone as soon as possible.

Sounds perfect for North Korea. <i>twirls moustache</i>

I thought this was called the &quot;loon&quot; program, not Google baloons?<p>Either way, I love this type of innovation and this is what makes me really respect Google. Yes, I know it is all about bottom line and they will profit handsomely from it, but they are also helping the world become a better and safer place.

Does anyone know why this has not been done already? Having a ton of cell towers on the ground and trying to send signal through mountains and other various terrain does not work. So why not put one tower on the ground in a central area and have an array of balloons floating around?

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OX21nHv47ZY" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=OX21nHv47ZY</a> Nice! Here&#x27;s my little cell phone blimp. Can&#x27;t do a proper altitude test right now because of wind.

...and this network of cell towers in the sky will be dubbed &quot;Skynet&quot;.

A whole state... as long as you&#x27;re not talking about 75% of states in the USA.<p>:)

Please append this to the headline:<p>... when that state is Rhode Island.

For how many simultaneous users

What if the balloon &quot;pops&quot;? Falling down might still be a risk if there is heavily populated area...