Wi-Fi Over Long Distances Sounds Good To Me

By Andrew Meyer on May 10, 2007

According to Forbes article “60-Mile Wi-Fi”, Eric Brewer a professor of computer science at UC Berkeley has concocted a networking scheme that can send “Wi-Fi over long distances”, and has dubbed this concoction Wildnet.

Wildnet is cheap to deploy, using the publicly available radio spectrum and the free Linux operating system on an inexpensive Intel computer board with off-the-shelf Wi-Fi radio chips. One router costs less than $400 and sips only 8 watts of power. A solar panel can run it. Wildnet transmitters can shuttle 5 million bits per second over distances of up to 60 miles.

Eric is focused on making life more livable in the Third World. He aims to penetrate developing countries with internet access and transform them with information technology. So far, small Wildnets have been built in the Philippines, Ghana and Guinea-Bissau.

I’m excited about the spread of Wildnet through developing countries. The internet is great because it provides equal information access to all users. I think Wildnet will be a great source of leverage for the developing world.

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