We don’t need to spend a lot of time on this, but I wanted to bring it to your attention that a new, potentially super-cool, satellite was successfully launched (probably into space?) July 1st from the Guiana Space Center.  The fact that it took off at all is interesting, but not the reason we’re gathering here today.  No.  The interesting thing is what this new satellite could mean for mobile broadband.  Terre Star is proposing an integrated satellite/terrestrial system with an IP infrastructure with a focus on smaller devices (smart phones) and Internet access for rural areas that have no real Internet broadband option.  (TerreStar-1 claims it will support speeds around 600 kbs, equivalent to what many DSL users experience.)

We’re talking about a new breed of mobile handheld options.  As if to imply you didn’t already have too many options.  Well, it’s not the handheld itself that really matters, it’s that there’s another infrastructure coming along that can prove competitive to our existing carriers like big V and ATT.  (No one really likes either of these groups, mainly because they knowingly cripple our hardware to suit their wants, but also because we don’t really have any other choice.)

I guess the part that really excites me is, we’re getting ready for some new technology.  Something we can hold in our hands and use for downloading crap we don’t need.  But at the very least, folks in desolate parts of North America will no longer be excluded from our status updates.  You dig what I’m sayin’?

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TerreStar-1 Launch Success was first posted to justinll.com on July 2, 2009.