High-Flying Ideas for Wireless Net

Dec. 20 -- Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird, it's a plane, it's… your high-speed wireless Internet access provider?

It sounds a bit farfetched, but several companies have been trying to develop high-flying alternatives to limited, land-based Net services.

The problem with conventional fast Internet connections, such as digital cable modems or digital subscriber line (DSL) services, is that such wired networks typically don't reach many suburban and rural areas of the country.

And even in urban areas, where cable TV and telephone networks are prevalent, such services still might not be available if the local service provider hasn't upgraded the wires and cables into a particular neighborhood or building — the so-called last mile.

That's why several companies, including Sanswire Technologies of Atlanta, say the answer to providing ubiquitous broadband Net access is up in the air — literally.

The company is working with a Canadian airship maker called 21st Century Airships to develop so-called Stratellites.

These high-tech blimps could carry up to 4,000 pounds of telecommunications gear and float it up to 13 miles into the stratosphere. At that height, far above any conventional commercial air traffic or turbulent weather patterns, the Stratellite would act as a wireless communications hub to provide wireless voice and data services for an area of up to 300,000 square miles.

"It's perfect for outlying areas that can't get broadband telephone or cable [TV] access," says Sanswire CEO Michael K. Molen. "[Subscribers] just put up a small antenna and they're in business."

Building a Better Blimp?

Sanswire's Stratellite concept is similar to other high-flying proposals that have been floated among the telecommunication industry in recent years. Sky Station International, based in Washington, D.C., had proposed similar airship-based systems, but has yet to get off the ground.

But Molen says Sanswire's Stratellite solution is different from Sky Station's and other companies' schemes in several ways.