Wireless break: balloons in the sky, one day at a time

Amol Sharma of the Wall Street Journal covers a clever product:

Jerry Knoblach wants to bring wireless service to millions of rural Americans. His plan: Beam it down from balloons hovering at the edge of space.

This isn't just hot air. His company, Space Data Corp., already launches 10 balloons a day across the Southern U.S., providing specialized telecom services to truckers and oil companies. His balloons soar 20 miles into the stratosphere, each carrying a shoebox-size payload of electronics that acts like a mini cellphone "tower" covering thousands of square miles below.
...
The inexpensive balloons are good for only 24 hours or so before ultimately bursting in the thin air of the upper atmosphere. The electronic gear they carry, encased in a small Styrofoam box, then drifts gently back to earth on tiny parachutes.

The article reports that Google might be interested, though tech blogger Om Malik is skeptical. If the product offers enough data throughput, I could see Google using it for rural broadband.

So, let's take a look. Space Data's Web site includes some vague marketing speak about their commercial SkySite®. No prices. (Perhaps: "if you have to ask, you can't afford it"?) No mention of bandwidth. (Perhaps: "pretty low, but better than nothing for certain high-value applications"?) Alas, the lack of info. is still way too common on corporate Web sites. I'm never sure whether companies intentionally hide the details to force people to call them, or just don't understand what potential customers want to see.