A nice cool front came through last evening, only up to 14 at this time.
Some people around town are speculating that cell phone service may be close. Speculation for this is unknown to me; CKOK recently had a piece saying that the company trying to introduce the service is a long way from doing just that.
One of the reasons cited was a non interest from local entities in a joint venture, a pre requisite in any remote town receiving cell phone service.
Another reason for the speculation: Maybe the presence in town of a crew to erect a 200 foot tower up the back on Nain Hill.
A little bit of information seeking and the speculators would have discovered that the tower is being erected for The Coast Guard.
That said; it could be possible to erect a cell phone antenna on top of this new tower after going through all the regulatory and CG approvals but I do not see that happening any time soon.
Now for my little bit of speculation: Given the way technology changes at such a fast pace I think by the time Nain is ready [read large enough population/user base] cell phones will be passé.
It could be that voice over data lines will be the way of the future, and then who knows how long that is in vogue.
It is already possible to use a Blackberry phone over the Internet using a provider who offers that service. I’m sure the new Apple phones most likely have the same capability.
So my speculation would be that Nain has a series of hot spot wireless modems around town allowing access to anyone who wants to use their blackberry or apple phone to call home asking the partner if it was tin milk or 2% milk they were to purchase on the way home from the dock.
One thing to consider here though; while chatting over the Internet may not cost a dime the phone and it’s add-ons would set you back a nice chunk of change, at least at the moment, but who knows those prices may drop.
We had a nice complement recently. A person from out of town dropped in for a visit and mentioned to Fran they like our front porch. When Fran said it is messy and needed a clean up the person said it "reminded then of the porch in their house when they were a child". We do take it as a compliment by the way [paraphrased].
1 comment:
There are cell/wifi phones that switch between cell/wifi networks seamlessly when you enter one or the other area. And like you say, all you need to access the wifi is a hotspot and access to skype or similar. I did a lot of research into these systems and concluded that it would be the way to go in Nain, but convincing others is difficult. This system is implemented in other remote regions using 3G or 4G technology, and there are records of antennas that are capable of transmitting over 200 miles. Which means strategically placed computers/antennas with satellite internet access could provide mobile phone service to all the cabins in the area, for very minimal cost. In fact, the biggest cost would be the phone, and they are still expensive at about $300.
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