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Australian Researchers Push Near-Broadband IP Over VHF

Posted by timothy on from the verified-horse-feathers dept.

Curmudgeon Rick writes "A research group at the Australian National University is getting symmetrical 250K bps at 20km, using "empty" 7MHz-wide broadcast TV allocations in the 45MHz band. Story here, project homepage here. Aim is to put some bandwidth out beyond the reach of the wires, where users are few and far between."

2 of 211 comments (clear)

  1. Wait a Minute by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Does Telestra know this? Surely they'll want to put a stop to any competitors of theirs.

  2. There is a market by F'Nok · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think that the market is UNDER estimated for this than anything. with 20-40k coverage, it is fantastic for rural coverage. And for a country where the majority of the population are active online, this means for rural areas that are spread out over large areas, it is feasible. The expense to cable an area with 10,000 people over a 20km radius is very prohibitive. However, the market for internet of 10,000 people, where network expansion means grabbing a bit more spectrum and setting up another station, is relatively small. I think this is fantastic for our rural areas here in Australia, because FAR too many cannot even support decent dialup. Who makes long distance calls for a 56k connection? Or worse, an unstable one?