June 27, 2011 05:39 pm EDT

Microsoft-led consortium to trial super WiFi network across the pond

British mobile bandwidth hogs won't have to curb their data enthusiasm anytime soon if a scheduled 'super WiFi' trial minds it manners. Led by Microsoft and backed by the UK's biggest TV providers, this roided-up wireless network surfs along the spare 150MHz spectrum that terrestrial television avoids. Christened the 'white spaces,' networks abroad (and in the US) maintain these unused frequencies to prevent signal interference, but with MS' Dan Reed calling spectrum "...a finite natural resource," operators don't have much else to mine. Set for testing in Cambridge -- chosen for its dense cluster of buildings old and new -- this repurposed TV signal walks through walls its weaker mobile brethren smack into (at up to 16Mbps, no less!). With a similar British Telecom rollout already underway in Scotland, we'd say the tech has an imminent Anglo-future -- pity the US can't seem to unravel the red tape fast enough for a homegrown build-out.

[Image courtesy ZDNet UK]

Microsoft-led consortium to trial super WiFi network across the pond originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Jun 2011 13:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Financial Times ||Comments

Original Link: http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/27/microsoft-led-consortium-to-trial-super-wifi-network-across-the/

View Full Article

Engadget

Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics. Engadget was launched in March of 2004 in partnership with the Weblogs, Inc. Network (WI

More About this Source Visit Engadget