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Idaho Companies Tout New Wireless Record

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the can-i-get-a-witness dept.

pavelvp writes "A small wireless Internet service provider in Idaho and a wireless equipment start-up claim to have set a new record for transmitting data across a wireless link this week. Microserv Computer Technologies, based in Idaho Falls, and Trango Broadband Wireless, a fixed-wireless broadband equipment maker, announced that they transmitted data over unlicensed wireless spectrum 137.2 miles." This unverified record would beat the previous record holders from the DefCon WiFi Shootout covered earlier on Slashdot.

4 of 146 comments (clear)

  1. Proprietary != Better by NorbMan · · Score: 5, Insightful
    From TFA:
    "What sets apart the 125-mile record set at the Defcon Wifi Shootout Contest is that it was subject to a strict verification and certification process administered by four independent judges."

    That, and the fact that the Defcon record was set using standard 802.11b radios rather than proprietary technology, and that the proprietary technology only beat Wi-Fi by 12.2 miles.

  2. Apples & Oranges by gclef · · Score: 4, Insightful

    DefCon: unamplified 802.11b; 11Mbps link; judges present & claim verified.

    These guys: closed, proprietary protocol; 2.3Mbps link; no one around to verify facts.

    As far as I'm concerned, the DefCon claim holds.

  3. Re:Been there. Done that. by NorbMan · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It could be argued that there is no current body with the authority to license spectrum outside of Earth.

    Unless the FCC claims the whole of our solar system in it's domain.

  4. Re:Been there. Done that. by grozzie2 · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Licensing is just a silly artifact of local regulatory requirements. Yes, voyager was unlicensed, nobody on earth has the jurasdiction to claim ownership of the spectrum out where it is. On the recieving end, no license is required to recieve the signal, and even if it was, there's plenty of places on this planet where nobody has jurasdiction to regulate such things. It's trivial to put an hf link on a couple of boats, set em half way around the world from each other, in the open ocean, and claim 'unlicensed', and actually get reliable communications. Since they are on the high seas, there is no regulatory body with jurasdiction, and they can use whatever spectrum they want, however they want.

    This whole business of 'records' for wireless transmissions is just so silly, a game of 'mine is bigger than yours'. Until these folks are actually communicating with stuff that's farther from this planet than geostationary orbit, then, there's already plenty of folks communicating without wires, over distances far greater than 137 miles, as part of normal everyday operations, so common in fact, nobody thinks twice about it. For one off custom setups, well, there's a couple of little robots traversing around mars that do it daily. For highly specialized 'record breaking' stuff, look out to cassini and beyond.