At IT Expo a few months ago (I know, I know, I’m just getting around to writing about it!), I wandered into the Super Wi-Fi area.  After all, Wi-Fi has had a profound impact on a lot of our lives.  And Super always sounds better.  So I wanted to find out about this.

Well, right off the bat I found out that Super Wi-Fi isn’t really Wi-Fi, at least how I know it from a standards perspective.  Some marketing genius just decided to call it Wi-Fi, and I do mean that in the best way possible, given, well, it did cause me to take notice.  

I found out that Super Wi-Fi uses unused spectrum in the lower frequency TV spectrum.  And there is some process required to make sure that the frequency being used by this doesn’t interfere with adjacent frequencies being used by TV. 

But this lower frequency allows the signal to travel further.  And I didn’t hear too much at all about “voice” in the discussions in the Super Wi-Fi zone – it was mostly about data.  And the FCC in the US plans to allow the use of these spectra for free, like Wi-Fi is.  I surmise both of these circumstances are how the link to Wi-Fi was made. 

So is this the next WiMax, or will this make a huge impact?  It’s hard to say right now.  I can see a use for this as maybe an improved last mile technology.