Internet connection and speed plays an integral part in the world we live in today. When trying to establish a Wifi connection, a person has to be within a certain vicinity of the router distributing the connection. Up until now, if a person was far from a cell tower it was hard to receive a reception. Recently, Google has been working on Project Loon, a Balloon that circles the globe distributing internet connection to people who never had access before.
Google’s reasoning for building this revolutionary internet infrastructure is simple. Since Google has already established itself among many internet markets, like the United States it is difficult to find new customers within this market because most of the people residing in these countries have access to the internet. According to Adam Chandler of the Atlantic, 57% percent of the World’s population, more than four billion people did not have access to internet in 2015. With project loon, Google can tap into this open market of “potential eyes” for ad revenue. This would greatly increase Google’s revenue generated by advertising.
Google is not only implementing Project Loon to increase its revenue, it is also part socially responsible of Google to supply the rest of the world with internet. The main reasons why four billion people are without internet is many telecommunication companies have not found it sensible to build cell towers in these rural or low income areas. Recently Project Loon provided high speed connections for people located in isolated parts of Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand. Giving these people in remote or rural areas grants them access to numerous resources that the internet has to offer. This could drastically increase their quality of life and life span.
This drastic increase in internet users also comes with cons. With potentially four more billion people connecting to the web, servers that were previously not being crowded are now saturated with users. As more and more users access a server, the server will experience an increase in temperature if the server gets too hot, the server might crash. This newly transformed global internet community could seriously slow down internet connection if anyone is connected through loom. Google will have to accompany Project Loon with numerous servers that can handle the influx of internet users.
Project Loon is still in its testing phase. With this comes some problems. According to daily mail, Remains of a Project Loon balloon found in a tea plantation in Sri Lanka. If these balloons continue to fall they could cause damage among property. Crashing into houses, power lines, and cars are just some of the numerous objects that these balloons can cause damage too.
It’s hard to imagine a world without internet connection. Growing up in the United States I have definitely taken internet connection for granted. Project Loon is a great way to help underdeveloped locations connect to the world through internet connection. Project Loon can have a huge impact on the World for the better.Sources
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/534986/project-loon/
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/09/united-nations-internet-access/406552/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3452850/Googles-Internet-balloon-crashes-Sri-Lanka-test-flight.html
This article was very interesting, and I believe that Project Loon would have great impacts on the ability for less privileged nations to have access to the internet. I was very surprised to read that the majority of the worlds population does not have internet access. I also believe that increasing this internet access will increase citizens lifestyles by allowing them to have contact with more developed nations, providing them with news and contact to increase their economies and infrastructure. My one concern is that these balloons may malfunction when in the air, and come in contact with airplanes or other objects, causing many safety concerns. Overall, I believe that these balloons will be greatly beneficial, and as long as they are monitored carefully will have great impacts in the future.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.google.com/loon/