

Mount Everest now has a permanent 3G connection to the summit - ukdm
http://www.geek.com/articles/mobile/mount-everest-now-has-a-permanent-3g-connection-to-the-summit-20101029/

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randlet
4 Square should sponsor a competition to see who can be the first to check in
from the summit.

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danpker
I wish phone carriers would focus on getting permanent 3G to places less
remote and where people live and use phones.

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eru
Travellers to Mount Everest are well off and in a spending mood.

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danpker
I suspect the roaming charges at the peak of Mt. Everest are far more
profitable than in a city.

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eru
And it's a PR hit. Would you have commented on HN about GSM reception finally
available in random-underserved town?

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danpker
No, but i'd still prefer the later.

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pchristensen
Why is everyone so concerned about this? This is a a no-brainer because:

    
    
      - people pay a lot of money to go there, and \
      - people die there
    

Safety is at a premium there. Even the best climbers don't always make it.
Watch this TED video and tell me this is a superfluous use of technology:
[http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_kamler_medical_miracle_on_evere...](http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_kamler_medical_miracle_on_everest.html)

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edge17
This is a superfluous use of technology. The people that go there already take
plenty of precautions. As a climber, I would not rely on a communication
channel installed by someone else as anything more than a hail mary.

The notion that people are concerning themselves with costs as small as a
satphone when already paying upwards of 120k is absurd.

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qq66
The cost of a satphone is weight.

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edge17
compared to what? a 3g enabled device? everything is weight.

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Aegean
It's upsetting news that the most popular virgin place on earth is now a
little less virgin than before. Step by step, losing its natural value.

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edge17
everest has had a relatively elaborate basecamp for years.

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chapel
Well there goes all the dead spots.

Pun intended. Interesting that they would put something like that up there.
Most people climbing Mount Everest probably could afford a satellite phone and
don't need 3G. Guess it is a luxury for those risking their lives.

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parfe
Might as well put in a flight of stairs

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corin_
C'mon, we're talking modern technology here, they didn't introduce a telegram
system.

So clearly we're looking for an elevator, not a flight of stairs.

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ohashi
Now I have no more excuses for why I am not trying to climb Mount Everest.

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ck2
I hear Mt. Everest now has a serious litter problem because of all the people
- and it's only been popular since the late 70's.

Imagine how much litter is going to be on the moon someday once people can go
there for "just" a million dollars.

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phaedrus
The surface area of the Moon is much larger than Everest though. IIRC it is
similar to the land area of Earth. (Remember that the Moon, although smaller
than the Earth, has no oceans.)

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whopa
To nitpick, the surface area of the Moon is roughly the same as the area of
Africa plus the area of the contiguous US. Much less than the total land area
of Earth. It's even less than the area of Asia.

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jbail
Definitely going to incur some roaming charges, but seeing the looks on your
friends' faces when you video call them from the top would be absolutely worth
it.

Now if we can just put a Starbucks and a gondola up there...

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maukdaddy
and yet I drop calls in the middle of Chicago. Amazing.

