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UK Testing Wireless Broadband Via Airship

Posted by timothy on from the hope-no-one-shoots-this-idea-down dept.

fruey writes "A team from York University, UK are about to test high altitude platforms, according to this article, as a way of bringing high-speed internet services to computer users in remote areas out of reach of broadband. They plan to use solar powered engines to keep the aerial platforms in position. The Capanina site have some more information about this stratospheric broadband experiment. More technical stuff can be found at the York University website This technology could deliver broadband communications at data rates up to 120Mbit/s! Screw cable and xDSL, when will stratospheric be available near me?"

16 of 222 comments (clear)

  1. Out of the way UK communities by GonzoDave · · Score: 5, Funny

    UK are about to test high altitude platforms, according to this article, as a way of bringing high-speed internet services to computer users in remote areas out of reach of broadband

    I assume this means backwards places like the Fens, Channel Islands, Welsh valleys and Liverpool. It might help to teach them what a computer and electricity are for first.

    1. Re:Out of the way UK communities by ozbon · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well, Liverpool certainly knows what computers are. They're the high-value items that thieving little sods can use to buy drugs.

      --
      I say we take off and nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure...
    2. Re:Out of the way UK communities by Varitek · · Score: 2, Funny

      As a resident of the Welsh valleys, I must point out that you're wrong. We all have computers. It's the most convenient way of getting sheep pron.

  2. Blast from the past by Wingchild · · Score: 3, Funny

    I wonder if an airship (or zeppelin) based broadband modem would be appropriately called a `z-modem`... ;)

  3. Cheaper Broadband by AyeFly · · Score: 3, Funny

    Why don't they just use five ounce birds carrying packets inside of cocounts?

    --
    Sig- http://www.dreamhost.com/rewards.cgi?ayefly
    1. Re:Cheaper Broadband by TeknoHog · · Score: 2, Funny

      African or European?

      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
  4. I can't wait... by kjdames · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...to hack into one of these babies and land it on my roof.

    --

    Typos... that's just how I role.

  5. Tech support response by Wattsman · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Why is my net connection down?"
    "The router crashed."
    "Can't you reboot it or something."
    "No, I mean it literally crashed. Some bird flew into it and the sucker fell from the sky. We'll be getting a replacement up in an hour or so."

  6. Aerial Platforms - Safe? by CowboyBob500 · · Score: 5, Funny

    It might bring a whole new meaning to "my network's gone down"

    Bob

    --
    Listen to my latest album here
  7. New Meaning by shlomo · · Score: 2, Funny

    Gives new meaning to the term "Server Crash".

    --
    sorry officer, left my sig in my other computer.
  8. Re:LOL by grub · · Score: 2, Funny


    I'm sure it will be a badge of honour in small English villages to say "Aye, I get me pr0n from tha' big tit in the sky!"

    --
    Trolling is a art,
  9. Re:Local satellite replacement. by hplasm · · Score: 2, Funny
    What to do at night, when there is no sun powering the Solar Cells? Helios used Fuel Cells for backup power, but the technology is not yet advanced enough to sustain flight for longer than ~1 week.

    Where do you live?? Pluto?

    --
    ...and he grinned, like a fox eating shit out of a wire brush.
  10. Oh, the humanity! by RealErmine · · Score: 3, Funny

    How big are these airships?

    It is appropriate that the source of one's internet might also block out the sun for short periods of time, thus rendering it safe for geeks to venture outside.

    "Natural light! Get it off!"

    --
    Dewey, you fool! Your decimal system has played right into my hands!
  11. Re:Just to answer some questions by fuzzybunny · · Score: 3, Funny
    If it crashes it does. Kind of like how, if your ISP gets blowed up, you ain't got no internet


    Yeah, but if my ISP explodes, I won't get half a ton of Cablecom telco equipment dropping through my skylight from 12 miles up.

    What's the terminal velocity of a wireless router anyway?

    --
    Cole's Law: Thinly sliced cabbage
  12. Re:Gyromills... by famebait · · Score: 2, Funny

    Esp. in bad weather, a lot of electricity at the same time :-)

    --
    sudo ergo sum
  13. Crashing ISPs by Leroy_Brown242 · · Score: 3, Funny

    This gives the term,"My ISP has crashed" new meaning.

    --
    Pretty Pictures!