Wi-Fi network breaks speed record

A new Wi-Fi network is making even the fastest commercial Wi-Fi networks seem sluggish by comparison.

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany set the new record: 40 Gbits per second over 0.6 miles. As KIT points out, that's like downloading an HD movie in less than one second or 2400 times faster than a DSL internet connection.

But downloading movies at lightning-fast speed isn't the the only benefit, KIT explains:

In the future, such radio links will be able to close gaps in providing broadband internet by supplementing the network in rural areas and places which are difficult to access.

The researchers are touting this as a good alternative to fiber optic cables which, while fast, are expensive and difficult to deploy, especially in rural areas where expanding fiber to homes doesn't make sense from a cost perspective.

Correction: A previous version of this post said the record is 40 GB per second. It is actually 40 Gbits per second. And a previous stat about 10 HD movies being downloaded in less than a second is more like one HD movie in less than a second. We regret this error.

Get more details on this incredible Wi-Fi network.

[Via Discovery]

Image: KIT

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com