Intel Research Berkeley is a research lab owned by Intel that cooperates on research projects with the University of California at Berkeley. Recently, a lab's team demonstrated a Wi-Fi system that can send a wireless signal over 60 miles !

It is regular Wi-Fi hardware but with modified software. It uses standard access point, lightly modified, but the antennas use new directional technology. The signal goes from a point and goes to another one, without going everywhere as the normal Wi-Fi does.

And what is it for? This is being developed for use in countries with poor communications infrastructures. One such antennae in a remote village, for example, could receive a signal and send it through various towers to fiber links, which would provide villagers with an Internet connection.

The Wi-Fi antennas would cost about 700 dollars, compared with WiMax towers that cost about 15,000 to 20,000 dollars. And since Wi-Fi spectrum is not regulated by local telecoms, it could be used without the government permission. Tests are now running in Pakistan and soon in Uganda.


Source: News.com, tuesday.
For those who do not know: WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is described by the WiMAX forum as being "a standards-based technology enabling the delivery of last mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL."