There is one thing I don’t understand: the balloon can have a powerful enough antenna to send information to a phone 60,000 or more feet away, how does the phone talk back to the balloon?
That said we have satellite phones now. Given the lower altitude of balloons getting a signal back should be realistic over future developments.
> Google made a different kind of advance with Loon when it added the capability to send data using the LTE spectrum—making it possible for people to connect directly to the Internet with their mobile phones. (Loon’s original Wi-Fi connection required a base station and a special antenna.)
Possible if you have a giant antenna and a large power source attached to your phone. I'll believe it when I see it. Getting LTE over that distance is very unlikely to work with standard hardware. Also consider that the Balloons power is very limited compared to a base station on the ground.