First Free Wireless Link Between Europe And Africa

Paul Bawon writes "A company called PSAND have just installed a wireless link between Tarifa in Spain and Tangiers in Morocco, thus linking the African and European continents together with a free wireless link. The link went across the Straits of Gibraltar with a total distance of 32 km over the sea. Images can be found here and notes from the work can be found here."

Comments

Cool...

[miroth]

Images of a wireless connection? I gotta see this.

Cool! Like hams working DX.

[the_rajah]

This one is not a distance record, but it did span continents and is an interesting article. Here's an article from last year about longer distances, albeit with higher power gear.

The ham radio record for 2.4 GHz is a lot longer, but it's a great start. Here are some results from Region 1, Europe, including Earth-Moon-Earth.

Here's the site for the San Bernadino Microwave Society (Hams). They've been doing this sort of thing for ages.

"Do the Right Thing. It will gratify some people and astound the rest." - Mark Twain

Re:Nice.

[CvD]

There is a huge loop of fiber going all the way around Africa that was put there during the dotcom boom by a company called Africa One. Apparently it is mostly dark, because no one can pay to use it:

See here for a large pic.

More info:
Wired News
Lucent
Some interview

So this is interesting for wireless sake, but not interesting for the sake of Internet connectivity in Africa. This fiber loop needs to be put to use to enable cheap Internet in Africa. Many Internet connections are still done by satellite, which is expensive and slow.