Once again we see the wisdom of market rule. In most other countries, mind you, cell customers don't even get charged for incoming calls!!!
A modest proposal:
What if there was an "X-prize" in the mould of the private competition to spur on space travel, to push an open source CITIZENS-BAND SATELLITE into earth orbit? Now my guess is that with lobbyists and all, such a thing could never get off the launchpad in this country. So maybe Larry Ellison or Google (or some other ambitious visionary bunch) in collaboration with a small third or fourth world nation seeking to establish its space presence (not knowing anything about the international regulations that may possibly have sway on such things) could sponsor such a competition. The goal of this would be to place a communications satellite in earth orbit that would begin to provide free access to anyone and everyone. Just what piece of the airwaves you could dedicate to this I don't know. Its a half-baked modest proposal at best. But how about some real competition for the telecom giants? Whatever happened to the Irridium project?
Slashdot Mirror
Once again we see the wisdom of market rule. In most other countries, mind you, cell customers don't even get charged for incoming calls!!!
A modest proposal:
What if there was an "X-prize" in the mould of the private competition to spur on space travel, to push an open source CITIZENS-BAND SATELLITE into earth orbit? Now my guess is that with lobbyists and all, such a thing could never get off the launchpad in this country. So maybe Larry Ellison or Google (or some other ambitious visionary bunch) in collaboration with a small third or fourth world nation seeking to establish its space presence (not knowing anything about the international regulations that may possibly have sway on such things) could sponsor such a competition. The goal of this would be to place a communications satellite in earth orbit that would begin to provide free access to anyone and everyone. Just what piece of the airwaves you could dedicate to this I don't know. Its a half-baked modest proposal at best. But how about some real competition for the telecom giants? Whatever happened to the Irridium project?