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IPFS News Link • Communications

AT&T's AirGig project to test high-speed Wi-Fi delivery over power lines

• newatlas.com by Michael Franco

AT&T has just announced a project that might help with that. It's called AirGig and it relies on power lines and millimeter wave technology to beam an internet signal pretty much anywhere there's electricity.
 

AirGig relies on inexpensive plastic antennae that are placed along power-line poles at regular intervals. These antennae beam and boost a millimeter-wave broadband signal to each other using a magnetic field that travels around or near the power lines – but not actually through them. Once the signal is flowing, the idea is that anyone with a Wi-Fi-enabled device would be able to pick it up. AT&T says that the AirGig system will be able to reach speeds rivaling current 4G LTE and someday 5G mobile internet speeds.

The system is currently being tested at AT&T's outdoor facility and is expected to be field tested sometime next year.


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