Nation's first campus 'Super Wi-Fi' network launches at West Virginia University

West Virginia University today announced that they're the first University to make space of white space broadband (aka "Super Wi-Fi"), a technology that uses the spectrum freed by the migration to digital television. The University stated that the first leg of their white space deployment will involve delivering Wi-Fi access for students and faculty at the Public Rapid Transit platforms, with whole campus coverage to follow.

While standard Wi-Fi uses the 2.4 GHz radio frequency, Super Wi-Fi uses lower frequency TV radio signals — 54MHz to 698 MHz –  which travel farther and propagate more effectively over hills and around obstacles such as trees. Maximum range for the signals appears to be about six miles, with a maximum speed around 10Mbps.