[vineyardmike]

Poor reception is rapidly becoming a non-issue for most of the developed world. I can’t think of the last time I had poor reception (in America) and wasn’t on an airplane.

As the global human population increasingly urbanizes, it’ll become increasingly easy to blanket it with cell towers. Poor(er) regions of the world will increase reception more slowly, but they’re also more likely to have devices that don’t support on-device models.

Also, Gemini Flash is basically positioned as a free model, (nearly) free API, free in GUI, free in Search Results, Free in a variety of Google products, etc. No one will be paying for it.

[dagmx]

Many major cities have significant dead spots for coverage. It’s not just for developing areas.

Flash is free for api use at a low rate limit. Gemini as a whole is not free to Android users (free right now with subscription costs beyond a time period for advanced features) and isn’t free to Google without some monetary incentive. Hence why I also originally ask about private cloud compute alternatives with Google.

[michaelmrose]

I ride a ferry from a city of 50k to a city of 700k in the US and work in a building with apartments upstairs basically a concrete cave.

I see poor reception in both areas and only one has WiFi.