Interstellar Comms

The Elpis System is a big place, where travel is slow and real-time communication is impractical beyond the immediate short range. Most people have access to a comm unit or omni tool, which interfaces with a few ways to get the word around the expanse of empty space.

Infospheres

Infospheres are regional or planetary networks of computer databases. They are designed to be easily accessible through computer devices and personal comm units, and play a crucial role in the lives of colonists across the Stream. They allow such things as websites, emails, and online activities. Due to the immense distances involved, infospheres are poorly synced up, requiring manual syncing through the slow sharing of data drives or net scooping (read below). When a new Infosphere is set up, a basic clone of its parent Infosphere is installed, and is then left to develop according to its own needs. All major spaceports also carry a miniature wiki version of their most important data sets, which can be bought by visitors.

Tightbeam Network

In order to provide for in-system tracking, a network of comm buoys is being deployed in orbit of major settlements and some more outwards, along trade routes. The only lag is that of the speed of light, however there are limitations on bandwidth, as well as severe data degradation. Many are outfitted with AI software designed to "repair" streams on the fly, but imperfections remain. The composite nature of the tightbeam network also makes it poorly secured, and less safe than the local infrastructure of many Infospheres they interact with. Some outlying comm buoys also become compromised by less savoury agents over time. This is not to be confused with Broadbeam, the local, in-system protocol ships and stations tend to use in order to hail each other.

Net Scooping

Most planets in Elpis are fairly highly networked. Despite the absence of high-bandwidth solutions to interplanetary data streaming, both private and public Infospheres need to sync up enormous amounts of data with each other in an effective manner. This is where the practice known as "net scooping" comes in. Many ships belong to a variety of data syncing schemes. Such ships can be dedicated couriers or normal cargo vessels, outfitted with a special on-board mainframe designed to "scoop" local chunks of planetary Infospheres whilst loading on cargo and share it with other networks at their destination. Specially designed AI prioritize the chunks to be uploaded depending on local traffic, content relevance, and previous uploads. A unique content ID system ensures minimal duplication and efficient spread of internet data across most networks. This method is fairly slow, as the data only travels as fast as the fastest ship. It is also reliant on traffic patterns, and places that see less ship traffic tend to get less regular and more patchy updates to their Infospheres. Nonetheless, for large-scale civilian data transfer (emails, websites, etc.), net scooping is very cost-effective and requires little infrastructure.

Physical HDDs

Either because the local Infosphere or even a netscoop could not handle such a heavy amount of data or out of security concerns, small data drives of various kinds are often used for secure or heavy data transfers, planetside and beyond. Travelling on fast courier ships or under the table, data drives provide encryption, are harder to trace, and their content cannot be syphoned without processing the physical item itself. Credit chips are cryptocurrency backed data drives that automatically update when in range of a blockchain broadcaster or secure banking network. A few governments and major factions keep their own, tiny fleet of couriers dedicated to the moving of data drives from various locations. Several independent operations at Express Courier Services or Starlyft, Inc also make a living transporting, or salvaging, data drives. Despite the security data drives provide, they also allow for malware of all kinds to propagate more commonly, with ransomware and ship bricking two particularly malicious trends.

Quantum Entanglement

Pairs of quantum entangled transponders are the most reliable way of real-time communications across the Stream. It is an expensive technology due to its limitations : a single pair has abysmal bandwidth and requires to be "backed up" by several more for any meaningful communications to occur. Furthermore, they cannot be networked easily. Banks, major news outlets and governments are starting to set up "switchboards" to patch two entangled lines through each other. Nonetheless, they allow for rare real-time communication between receivers, usually text only, much like the telegraphs of old, and are thus extremely valuable to military agencies and newswires.