Mikey Campbell
Google parent company Alphabet on Friday said it is collaborating with AT&T, Apple and various government agencies to deliver limited wireless internet access to Puerto Rico via the company's Project Loon balloons.
Announced in a blog post by Alistair Westgarth, head of Project Loon, the partnership seeks to reconnect the thousands of Puerto Ricans impacted by Hurricane Maria in September. Currently, balloons launched in Nevada are floating above the hardest hit parts of the island, temporarily replacing ground infrastructure destroyed by the storm.
Part of Alphabet's X innovation lab, Project Loon equips stratospheric balloons with communications equipment to provide internet connectivity to remote areas of the world. Many balloons can stay aloft for 100 days, though a record-setting test unit floated for 190 days, Westgarth says.
In the weeks following Maria's landfall, Project Loon has worked with the government of Puerto Rico, as well as the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, Federal Aviation Administration and Federal Emergency Management Agency to gain regulatory approval for emergency balloon flights.
AT&T is providing LTE service for basic communication like text messaging and internet access, while companies like SES Networks and Liberty Cablevision helped deploy essential hardware on the ground.
According to Axios, Apple is rolling out a cellular settings update for iOS that will grant iPhones in region Band 8 spectrum access, a currently unused LTE frequency band leveraged by Loon's balloons.
Project Loon's efforts in Puerto Rico mark the second time the balloon technology has been used to assist in disaster relief. In 2016, Loon balloons floated over Peru to deliver basic internet services to thousands of people affected by widespread flooding.
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13 Comments
Good on everyone and every company offering assistance.
This is the second time in recent months that Project Loon has assisted in natural disaster relief. Earlier in the year it was Peru with 100,00 of thousands displaced by heavy flooding. Some of the things we thought were odd and useless "moonshots" turn out to have value after-all.
If you don't have Cell Service or Wifi yet how do you get this update to look at band 8. Do android phones look for this band already or do they need an update too.
These people are just lazy and want things done for them, unlike our inherited $200 million and set the all time record for golf vacations so far president.