Global AirPort [Archive] - MacRumors Forums

hotch

Jan 6, 2002, 01:46 PM

I am convinced that Apple will release a satellite based airport system tomorrow. All the hints point to it. Just imagine what it would do for Apple's market share... Everyone would buy a Mac if it

a) gave them broadband without having to go through the phone co. or the tv co., and

b) let them access the internet anywhere...

Now this is truly a revolutionary development that would shape the future of technology.

fuzzhack

Jan 6, 2002, 02:10 PM

that would be an amazing service to provide. And I do believe it would increase thier purchases by 2 fold, but is it technologically possible? Not yet. to recieve satellite you have to have a dish, and to be able to put all that technology in a pcmia card.. not yet. But hopefully soon.

Good idea
-patrick

skywalker

Jan 6, 2002, 02:23 PM

Actually, GPS receivers don't require a dish, so it could be very possible to create something like that. Will Apple do it? No, I doubt it. Would it be awesome? YES! Keep on dreaming for the nearly impossible!

hotch

Jan 6, 2002, 02:30 PM

SatPhones use no dish... this is the article that convinced me: http://www.apple.com/scitech/stories/skycorp/ "The Mac, the internet, and space simply go together"

tubescan7777

Jan 6, 2002, 02:51 PM

Apple had These Quotes

To Boldly go where no PC has gone before. -
Space

Full Speed Ahead, Lust Factor 10. -
Well think what this would do to the industry and who wound't want one?

Starwars Quotes. -
There were polenty of Starwars quotes which takes place in outer space

and this would just be sweet

Tubescan

p.s. i cnat remember all the quotes but i know other ones fiut this patern also

rekras

Jan 6, 2002, 02:54 PM

apple simply doesnt have the sort of finacial resources to pull something off like that

hotch

Jan 6, 2002, 02:57 PM

Originally posted by rekras
apple simply doesnt have the sort of finacial resources to pull something off like that

but i doubt there is an investor in the world who wouldnt want a piece of this...

Moby 1

Jan 6, 2002, 03:05 PM

I cried like a baby when Metricom went down...

Having a Ricochet PCMCIA modem (high speed in my area) in my PowerBook was THE coolest computing experience!

Moby 1

DaveGee

Jan 6, 2002, 03:43 PM

Originally posted by Moby 1
I cried like a baby when Metricom went down...

Having a Ricochet PCMCIA modem (high speed in my area) in my PowerBook was THE coolest computing experience!

Moby 1

Oh my gosh, tell me about it... While I didn't have it yet in my area I'd go to the map every few days to see how close they were to turning my area on... And then BAM they died... =(

I'm stuck here just 30 miles from NYC and the best I can get is ISDN from HELL TITANIC... The cost, oh you'd love this... For 70 HOURS of use per month (not always on) it ONLY runs me $150 per month... DSL is too far (40k feet) and cable-inet service has been 'on its way' for two plus years now.

I've even considered selling my home just to get to an area where I can have something better... The wife isn't exactly HIP to the idea... =(

Dave

nahaliel

Jan 6, 2002, 04:02 PM

the new XM car radio thing works with a satellite without a dish.. hmm how sweet it would be if apple pulled off such a wet dream... it would make sense out of the star TREK quotes.

hotch

Jan 6, 2002, 04:02 PM

Originally posted by DaveGee

Oh my gosh, tell me about it... While I didn't have it yet in my area I'd go to the map every few days to see how close they were to turning my area on... And then BAM they died... =(

I'm stuck here just 30 miles from NYC and the best I can get is ISDN from HELL TITANIC... The cost, oh you'd love this... For 70 HOURS of use per month (not always on) it ONLY runs me $150 per month... DSL is too far (40k feet) and cable-inet service has been 'on its way' for two plus years now.

I've even considered selling my home just to get to an area where I can have something better... The wife isn't exactly HIP to the idea... =(

Dave [/B]

You're not the only one... I'm 15k feet past the DSL cutoff, and, if Apple doesn't release sat. internet tomorrow I'm going to have to get Starband or DirectPC

Macwizzard

Jan 6, 2002, 04:12 PM

Apple did send s satelite into space that had a condensed G4 system and it was the first ISP in space. They planned to cover the world giving all people everywhere the ability to use the internet.

SEE:http://www.apple.com/scitech/stories/skycorp/
It has the whole story.

nahaliel

Jan 6, 2002, 04:22 PM

wow... right on apple's website... SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am also one of the poor neglected broandbandless souls out there, infact im going to my sister's house tomorrow morning to watch the keynote on her cable modem. Oooh how much piss will be in bill gate's pants when this thing is turned on....

nahaliel

Jan 6, 2002, 04:28 PM

one observation about this site: its out of date, says america online is non airport compatible.. meaningless, but none the less an observation.

theranch

Jan 6, 2002, 04:34 PM

That idea convinces me...especially after reading that story while keeping the recent quotes of Apple in mind.
Very interesting...

mac fanatic

Jan 6, 2002, 04:37 PM

Some people need to read their info better.

1. Apple are not tuuring it on tomorrow, the first satellite hasn't even paseed the testing phase.

2. And yes Apple do not have the money to put the satellite's in space, but if you read the article it says that skycorp is doing this in conjunction with Apple. Apple are modifying their hardware to suit the sattelites.

Even though I will be loooking forward to whatever they have to say.

hotch

Jan 6, 2002, 04:41 PM

Originally posted by nahaliel
one observation about this site: its out of date, says america online is non airport compatible.. meaningless, but none the less an observation.

This was the launching of the first satellite...

Looking at skycorp's website: http://skycorpinc.com/ -- it looks promising. They ran beta testing in November and haven't said anything since then (what could the reason for this be? perhaps apple told them to stay quiet? why else would such an innovative company stay quiet?)

nahaliel

Jan 6, 2002, 04:53 PM

Beej

Jan 6, 2002, 04:56 PM

To everyone who's saying this is not possible, think about what Apple did with the price of super drives.

I know that just because they did that doesn't mean they're going to be able to do this, but it does show you that Apple is capable of some very amazing things.

nahaliel

Jan 6, 2002, 05:04 PM

a double post with a 10min space between.. how very odd

hotch

Jan 6, 2002, 05:06 PM

Originally posted by nahaliel
a double post with a 10min space between.. how very odd

I was wondering about that....

j763

Jan 6, 2002, 05:13 PM

This is great - but I don't know about a demo at MWSF unless the test has been a success and they've secretly released many more (which I think is a bit hard to do secretly). Maybe they'll just have it set up to work on Steve's computer in the Moscone center for a demo :)

I'm another poor soul who hasn't got broadband... The only service avaliable costs so freakin much... Damn u telstra (national telco)

nahaliel

Jan 6, 2002, 05:15 PM

according to apple though, it wont be available everywhere.. not at first. I wonder how they block certain areas? if it works everywhere for those who subscribe (and you can only subscribe if you live in a rural area) or they some physically lockout urban areas.. oh how sweet this thing sounds.

hotch

Jan 6, 2002, 05:22 PM

Originally posted by nahaliel
according to apple though, it wont be available everywhere.. not at first. I wonder how they block certain areas? if it works everywhere for those who subscribe (and you can only subscribe if you live in a rural area) or they some physically lockout urban areas.. oh how sweet this thing sounds.

Well, satellites will be in low level orbit, so only certain areas will have it at first. The article states that there will be a total of 544 satellites-- obviously, not all of these are up already. They will add satellites over rural areas before they put them over urban centers. Heres to hoping they'll put them over my rural area!

I'm assuming that these will be in geostationary orbit...

[Edited by hotch on 01-06-2002 at 06:26 PM]

Timothy

Jan 6, 2002, 05:24 PM

I think this could be something worth paying attention to...It is doubtful that Job's will unveil some global wireless system tomorrow, but perhaps they have either partnered with this company, or purchased them, and will be developing a satelite-based wireless system for their new...NEWTON!

This, of course, will not be available until sometime in 2004 at the earliest....

greatm31

Jan 6, 2002, 05:40 PM

Of course Apple does not have the financial resources to achieve this alone, but who ever said they'd have to do it alone? It's quite possible, in fact, that Apple will announce a strategic partnership with SkyCorp to bring satellite internet accross the globe... this really would be incredible. It just might actually happen.

hotch

Jan 6, 2002, 05:43 PM

Originally posted by greatm31
Of course Apple does not have the financial resources to achieve this alone, but who ever said they'd have to do it alone? It's quite possible, in fact, that Apple will announce a strategic partnership with SkyCorp to bring satellite internet accross the globe... this really would be incredible. It just might actually happen.

Proving that nothing is beyond the rumors sites :)

nahaliel

Jan 6, 2002, 05:43 PM

pda? well sure maybe but im more interested in laptop which is much more useful than pda.. 2004? lets hope not, although I guess it is inpractical to think that ill be getting wireless internet anytime soon.... it is 2002 though, come on blow us all away apple.. lets launch it and make it available TOMORROW in the Western Central Pennsylvania area first :)

748s

Jan 6, 2002, 05:46 PM

here's a story how airport can go over 14 kilometres rather than the standard distance
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20010628.html

iCinder

Jan 6, 2002, 06:00 PM

i am so drooling over this. awesome awesome awesome

j763

Jan 6, 2002, 06:05 PM

i really hope that this service will be international - not just for north america. i would be really pissed off if you could only get it in the states. newayz, they could demo this service at mwsf as a taste of things to come I hope.....

MacAztec

Jan 6, 2002, 06:41 PM

Apple is not going to go in to the Broadband buisness. They are all about Hardware and Software. A satellite would cost too much money anyways

nahaliel

Jan 6, 2002, 07:00 PM

then why in conjunction with skycorp have they already launched a satellite to support this to be huge wireless networking idea? (Where no PC has gone before--everywhere.)

hotch

Jan 6, 2002, 09:29 PM

Originally posted by Mac_User
Apple is not going to go in to the Broadband buisness. They are all about Hardware and Software. A satellite would cost too much money anyways

Wait, so which is iTools-- hardware or software? what about mac.com email?

748s

Jan 6, 2002, 09:46 PM

the big interest in the skycorp/g4's is the low cost. they are dropped off via the shuttle rather than having a rocket for each. space on the shuttle is not cheap, but cheaper then a rocket to launch each one.
it may not be at macworld on the 7th but it will be happening.....sooner then later. it will be world wide.

Gus

Jan 6, 2002, 09:46 PM

I too had thought of this concept when the Star Trek references starting coming up. I see no reason why anyone would think that anything was impossible in this day and age. Why do so many people think there are things that Apple or its partners can't do? In 1984, if someone told you that there was going to be a computer that everyone could buy and use easily and graphically, everyone would have said you were wrong and that there was no way Apple or anyone else could do this. This negativity surprises me, but I am an idealist, so I get down on negativity. Let's just see what happens tomorrow. Do I think that we will have a global system from Apple tomorrow? Nah, probably not. Do I think that people at Apple have thought about it. Oh yeah. I know everyone is free to express their own thoughts and feelings on these topics, but remember that some of the best things came from "impossible" ideas. I just finished reading this, and I apologize for the pseudo-rant.

Gus

hotch

Jan 6, 2002, 10:59 PM

http://lowendmac.com/musings/02/0106.html

GeeYouEye

Jan 7, 2002, 01:49 AM

Especially if it had isp service as well. I was going to get DSL but then Pacbell, curse them, made the max distance requirements 3k feet shorter and now I'm less than 1k feet too far. I hate it.

DaveGee

Jan 7, 2002, 07:44 AM

Originally posted by 748s
here's a story how airport can go over 14 kilometres rather than the standard distance
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20010628.html

Yeppers... but "POINT TO POINT / LINE OF SITE" and ROAMING are two totally different things... I've even read stuff where people have gotten even further than 14km with the right antenna BUT that isn't the same thing as roaming access over the entire 14km area.

I wish it were... :)

Dave

hotch

Jan 7, 2002, 08:21 AM

Originally posted by DaveGee
Originally posted by 748s
here's a story how airport can go over 14 kilometres rather than the standard distance
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20010628.html

Yeppers... but "POINT TO POINT / LINE OF SITE" and ROAMING are two totally different things... I've even read stuff where people have gotten even further than 14km with the right antenna BUT that isn't the same thing as roaming access over the entire 14km area.

right, but it shows the possible power of the AirPort system

mischief

Jan 7, 2002, 10:48 AM

Actually, it is the same as roaming access. 802.11b has a routing feature that allows for a wireless backbone. Setting up arrays of the things @3/4 max range has better coverage. Go to Lucent's website: http://www.wavelan.com and dig around a bit. Look for their outdoor routers, brand name: orinoco. Think about the # of satellites we're talking about: 544! GPS has less than 100. If they're all kept in range of each other with ground-point overlap,it'd be seamless.

Apple doesn't need the money if AOL/TW will front the money to kill MS's attempt at endgame. Let's not forget that MS has large blocks of stock in AT&T and 30% of the stock Comcast (the company AT&T just sold it's Cable, ISP, and local phone service rights and holdings to. If MS Net becomes the default ISP for AT&T's customer base - it's over. We may as well be using Amigas.