[LINK] Coming Soon? Free WiFi for World's Poor - Ahumanright.org will buy, re-purpose satellite

[Richard Chirgwin]

On 30/01/11 11:02 AM, Paul Brooks wrote:
> On 28/01/2011 5:49 PM, Antony Barry wrote:
>> http://www.newser.com/story/108473/coming-soon-free-wifi-for-worlds-poor.html
> So will it be WiFi, or satellite I wonder?  WiFi won't talk to a satellite, and
> satellite's not WiFi, and without a LOT of expensive VSAT-like earthstations to do the
> conversion ne'er the twain shall meet.
>
> Paul.
Reading the docs at http://buythissatellite.org/about.php it seems the 
Newser writer' type is somewhat scattered (why am I not surprised?). 
Here are the facts as stated by the writer:

1. Ahumanright.org "has placed a bid" for the satellite.
Wrong. They are fund-raising to get enough money to do a business plan 
so they can submit a bid.

2. "From TerreStar's perch over Papua New Guinea"
Nope. PNG has an orbital slot that the satellite could be moved to. 
Right now, it's over the Pacific Ocean at 111 degrees west.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http%3A%2F%2Ftoolserver.org%2F~para%2Fcgi-bin%2Fkmlexport%3Farticle%3D111th_meridian_west%26usecache%3D1

3. "Ahumanright.org's founder Kosta Grammatis plans to fund the free 
wireless by devoting some of TerreStar-1's capabilities to a for-pay, 
high-speed broadband service for corporations."
Well, actually the plan is to offer access to telecommunications 
carriers. Set out on the link I gave at the top.

And of course, the writer can't tell the difference between WiFi and 
satellite.

I'm accustomed to how badly technical topics are handled, but this is 
probably the gold standard for 2011, and it's only January! And Newser's 
motto is "read less know more".

RC
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