Alphabet, Bharti Airtel to bridge India's digital divide with frickin' laser beams

Alphabet's plan to deliver high-speed internet service using helium-filled balloons may have been a bit too loony to work. Instead, the so-called Moonshot Factory has seemingly taken a page out of Dr Evil's playbook and started strapping lasers to buildings. The endeavor is part of Alphabet's Project Taara – which has been …

[Pascal Monett]

"the notoriously foggy San Francisco Bay area"

Fog. Millions upon millions of tiny droplets of water floating in the air.

Does that mean that heavy rain can also potentially cut, or severely diminish, performance of the laser beam ? Because if so, then any place that has a monsoon season is going to need a backup plan, as in a fiber link.

[Tom Chiverton 1]

"light is a much more efficient carrier of information than electromagnetic waves"

Umm, light *is* an electromagnetic wave...

[Filippo]

No, it's a particole.

[Roger Kynaston]

dual use?

[Roger Kynaston]

beat me to it

My other pedant mode is saying that a hydra was a many headed monster so to have a many headed many headed monster is a bit much.

[Caver_Dave]

Monsoon

In much of India the monsoon rains are so heavy that you cannot see across the street, let alone to a tower many miles away.

Have the "blue sky thinkers" never been to India?

[CrazyOldCatMan]

Re: Monsoon

Have the "blue sky thinkers" never been to India?

I would suspect that a vulture sitting in front of a dish wouldn't be ideal either. Or a monkey stealing the shiny bits!

[Anonymous Coward]

"Modulating the laser power"...

From article: "many of these challenges have been mitigated by modulating the laser power and adjusting how data is processed."

Indeed. When there's an obstruction, crank the laser power up to a couple watts; the obstruction will disappear shortly!

[Doctor Evil]

One simple request

Dr Evil would be proud

I am!