[Joe 6-pack]

Just wait 'til one of these puppies breaks loose and the first dolphin washes up on shore after trying to ingest the thing. Cell phones will be outlawed.

[narby]

Extend America and Chandler, Ariz.-based Space Data Corp. are developing the technology,

Overheard a conversation in the Chandler AZ airport resturant about this a couple of years ago. Sounded a lot like a snake oil sales pitch though. Wonder why it's taken them two years to put up a test?

[TChris]

No, what's crazy is cellular network engineers who can't seem to see obvious geographical advantages and disadvantages in tower placement. Our town has a Verizon tower that puts half of the town in a dead zone because of poor transmitter placement. A seventh grader could look at the town and easily see the best location.

200 ft. Verizon cell towers are frequently constructed in the middle of the city/town, when one placed on a nearby hill would yield many times greater coverage. It's urban RF design in a rural setting. Doesn't work well at all.

[OB1kNOb]

Wouldn't those balloons travel across a state in a matter of hours, especially if it gets caught in a jet stream/wind stream?

[ml/nj]

Seems like this would cause colossal aviation problems.

ML/NJ

[Psycho_Bunny]

Once a balloon leaves the state, its toaster-size communications pod would jettison, deploy a parachute and fall to earth,

Oh ya.  GREAT IDEA!  No one's gonna get sued when some kid gets thunked on the head by one of these things.

[VoiceOfBruck]

Our radio club has done this with HF (shortwave) antennas. Best 80 meter antenna I've ever used (5/8 wave = 50 meter actual length). That is, until the string broke and the balloon got away. Another time we had trouble with high winds tipping it over. Great coverage while they worked though!

[Mike Darancette]

This is called thinking outside of the box!

Good luck to them, I don't know how the people of rural ND have lived so long without cell phones.

[river rat]

"Up to 20 miles above the earth, well above commercial airliner pathways, steady stratospheric winds would push the latex balloons across the state at about 30 mph. Each balloon would deliver voice and data service to an area hundreds of miles in diameter."

On its trip to the stratosphere - wouldn't these balloons pass through the jet stream -- where I've noticed West to East wind speeds greater than 300 mph. This would move the balloon across the state at a speed a lot greater than the claimed 30 mph...

Semper Fi