You might have trouble getting a decent wi-fi signal in your bedroom, but Microsoft has plans to cover entire countries in strong, fast wireless. A partnership with D-Link to bring the next generation of wireless — they call it Super Wi-Fi — to developing nations is already in early testing.
The proposal is a few years off from implementation still, but the technical details are sound: 802.11af is slated to use relatively low frequency ranges for transmitting and receiving data, allowing for long ranges and wider areas to be covered by a single access point.
The current standard for 802.11af uses a variety of frequencies already used for TV broadcasting. With access points using GPS to determine their location and choose from a list of open frequencies, the base stations or access points will choose free ‘white space’ in between TV transmissions to set up a signal.
Long range wi-fi coverage also allows for larger mesh networks to be created, where access points talk on a dedicated frequency band and act as repeaters for a single internet connection. In developing countries where telecoms infrastructure is patchy or yet to be built, wi-fi can be the final piece of the puzzle — and that’s where D-Link and Microsoft plan to help out.
Microsoft is already running trials in the US, and the software giant and its partners have three developing countries already targeted for a future implementation of Super Wi-Fi.