Ain't no mountain high enough
Mount Everest now boasts better cellphone service than Memorial Drive
The top of Mt. Everest? We can hear you now!
3G cell service along some parts of Memorial Drive? Forget it. We'd get betterreception on Mt. Everest.
You just completed a sweaty, three-mile jaunt 'round the Memorial Park jogging loop. And today, you're feeling particularly proud of yourself.
On your drive back home to Montrose, you think, "This is a great time to call my mother!" Because no matter what snark or gripe she throws your way, it ain't gonna get you down.
You're careening toward the Waugh Drive exit, when suddenly, you're shouting, "Hello? Hel-lo?" into your iPhone.
It's a familiar refrain — "Call Failed."
But Toto, we're not on Mount Everest anymore.
Perhaps you can't drive around Houston without losing a signal (over and over again), but if you're hiking Mount Everest, the answer to, "Can you hear me now?" is "Yes!" from here on out.
Go ahead and heap thanks on Ncell, a Nepalese mobile communications company, for taking the isolation out of Everest.
Ncell has given locals, tourists, hikers, and travelers in and around the Khumbu region — including the infamous mountain — the ability to check e-mail, surf the web, and scream obscenities at their significant others, all at well over 17,000 feet above sea level.
That's because Ncell installed the first 3G base station at the base camp of Mt. Everest this week. Lest you think we're pulling your antenna, the world's highest video call was made — successfully, mind you — at 17,388 feet.
While coverage doesn't quite encompass the summit just yet, plans are in the works for service on "the roof of the world" soon.
Wanna get away from the hustle and bustle of modern society? Not on Mount Everest, you're not. You'd have better luck cruising down a main Houston artery than with climbing a mountain anymore.
Welcome to the Planet Earth, Version 3.0.
