Check out this article for Wired, Facebook Will Build Satellites and Drones to Beam Internet Around The World by Cade Metz. Yes, you read that correctly. Facebook has set up a lab dedicated to developing solar powered, unmanned drones (in a similar article by NBC News, they said that these drones could be as big as 747s) that can fly above the earth for months and beam down WiFi to people who don't have it. The main target of these drones would be suburban areas The article didn't say anything about rural areas, but I'm assuming that these drones could get Internet to those places too (and it's sorely needed, as some people in our school could tell you.) They also plan to build satellites to reach even more remote areas. This all is part of a future plan to expand Facebook's business even further. After all, what's the best way to sell lots of a product? Offer it to a wider audience.
My first thought when I read this article was "Since when is Facebook in the aviation industry?" It seems ludicrous to me, but I guess it's not that strange for large corporations to be in the business of industry (and potentially world) changing technology. Google is working on a similar project except using weather balloons. In the past Facebook had another project dedicated to making a faster computer server. In the past corporations have been sources of life-changing innovations, so I suppose I'm just behind on the times.
I also wondered how exactly this thing was going to work. So let's say Facebook does send these drones up. Now there's WiFi signals all over the place for people to connect to. Would this WiFi be free? I can't see that being the case. After all, solar powered drones need maintenance and people flying them need to be paid. I imagine you would have to pay Facebook for access to the Internet if you used their signal. This might be profitable for them if they're beaming WiFi down to rural areas where they have no other choice, but what about in cities and neighborhoods where there's WiFi all over the place? People aren't going to pay for Facebook's WiFi if there's free coffee shop WiFi two feet away. People also aren't going to change from their regular WiFi routers to Facebook's WiFi unless it's cheaper, faster or more reliable. Personally, I'm not convinced that it would be. Just look at the satellite based WiFi used by cruise ships (hint: it's slow and super spotty.)
On the other hand, Internet connection that wasn't cable based could be a serious boon to people operating on dial-up or similarly slow connections. If Facebook could make their connections faster than dial-up, etc. then I imagine people in rural areas would be really excited to have it. I don't, however, think it would be very beneficial right now to Third World countries. Right now the Third World has spotty connections to electricity and few computers, so WiFi satellites and drones wouldn't be very helpful to them. If it got to the point where more people had connections to electricity, computers, and other technology, then I think WiFi drones could be helpful for them.
Bottom Line: WiFi drones could be really helpful for rural people with dial-up connections, but for the rest of us, our current methods of finding WiFi probably work just fine. Keep working on it though, Facebook. Practical or not, it's still a cool idea.
I agree with London on how people who already have access to WiFi will not switch over to Facebook's new drone system unless it is cheap and reliable. Also, whenever a company is trying a new product or idea there will be glitches in the beginning so no one will want to risk their already secure WiFi network on something that has not been previously tested. Finally I don't understand why Facebook would decide to branch out of its social media realm into something that does not have a guaranteed profit or benefit to the company. I think in the end the company will invest more into the program than they will gain.
ReplyDeleteI actually think that this is a really interesting idea. If I lived in a rural area with no access to WiFi I would definitely jump at the chance to use Facebook's new drone system. I do agree with London, though, when she says that there is very little chance of people who already have easy access to WiFi taking advantage of this. I do find it kind of interesting that Facebook is coming up with new ideas like this when they are ususally thought of as just a social media website.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that this was even suggested by Facebook of all things. It is a very "generous" thing for Facebook to do. The entire world would be able to communicate and get a better view of how it works though.
ReplyDeleteI think that this idea is awesome to think about but incredibly difficult to achieve. It may also be very pointless. Yes it would be great for these third world countries to be able to enjoy the internet and all that goes along with it, but since when does everybdoy in third world companies even have the technology to use the internet? In the world nowadays companies are trying to make healines with new and innovative ideas. I think this one may have missed the mark.
ReplyDeleteThis is such an interesting concept! I think it would extrmeley useful and just flat out awesome to have drones that transmit wifi. It does, however, seem to be more of a sci-fi movie reality than an actual possibility. I also agree that facebook is a weird company to be attempting this, simply because they are a social networking company, not Google. I do think it would be very beneficial to have this drone, but I'm curious to see if it will actually happen.
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