He used technology from Intel, which is concocting its own long-range Wi-Fi equipment, and some off-the-shelf parts. Pietrosemoli gets about 3 megabits per second in each direction on his long-range connections.The old record was 310km. More info at CNET.
Most Wi-Fi signals only go only a few meters before petering out. Conventional Wi-Fi transmitters, however, send signals in all directions. By directing the signal to a specific point, range can be increased.
Honing the signal, however, means that the receiver and transmitter have to be aligned. Trees, buildings and other objects that get between them can sever the link. The curvature of Earth, misalignment between the transmitter and receiver, as well as shaking and any sort of movement at the transmitting or receiving end can also impair the signal. (To ameliorate some of these factors, Intel has created a way to electrically steer the signal, which in turn increases bandwidth.)
WiFi record: signal travels 382 kilometers
Posted on Sunday, June 24 2007 @ 3:41 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
Researchers managed to establish a WiFi link between two computers located in El Aguila and Platillon Mountain, Venezuela over a distance of 382 kilometers (238 miles)!