On 2007-04-16, Dick wrote:
*I* said I had argued that Internet was actually a good thing
for Amateur radio:

Yes, I mis-quoted you. It was "Nobody" that I was quoting. Sorry
about that.

Thats ok. Don't worry about it.

My point about satellite communications was not that it would do away
with ham radio per se, but that it would make ham radio much less
important for emergency communications (ARES/RACES.) When technology
advances to the point where all telephones communicate directly with
satellites, with no earthbound connection, then the only thing that
could knock them out would be to take out the satellites. Much less
likely than an earthquake, fire or flood here on earth. I know there
are services available today like Iridium and Globalstar, but it won't
be practical for everyone until the price gets down to current cell
phone costs.

and until the available bitrates increases abit
last time i saw satellite phone it was something around 64Kbps.