Houston leads way in launching 'super WiFi'

With money from the National Science Foundation, Edward Knightly, a computer engineer at Rice, was able to build prototype equipment this winter and create Houston's first super WiFi hot spot a few weeks ago. He believes it is the first such hot spot in the nation.

"This is an early trial," he said. "We're still trying to determine the ideal use for the technology." Super WiFi was made possible in September when the Federal Communications Commission issued rules for the use of spare patches of the radio spectrum that opened up when broadcast TV stations switched from analog to digital signals. Normal WiFi signals use a portion of the spectrum in which wavelengths are much shorter, and therefore not good at penetrating through trees or walls. The newer chunk of the spectrum allowed WiFi signals at longer wavelengths, which are much better at penetrating natural and man-made barriers. Will Reed, president of Technology For All, said he's working with about 70 public computer sites in Texas to eventually distribute the technology, including rural areas such as Duval County in South Texas. "It's a huge opportunity," Reed said. "You can really blast the signals a long way. I think it will work really well in rural populations where it would be very expensive to run wires to."