Intel creates wi-fi hotspot at North Pole

Wi-fi gets cold

15 April 2005 18:58 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Next time you find yourself in the North Pole remember to take your laptop. Two employees of Intel Russia have just set up what may be the world's most northerly wi-fi hotspot about 80 miles from the North Pole.

The hotspot was built in the Arctic Region at the Barneo ice camp used by scientists, researchers and rescue crews during April.

According to Intel, the temperature isn't ideal for computing as temperatures reach around minus 30 at this time of year.

Extreme conditions aside, the two men set up the 802.11b/g node and then created a WLAN network using four centrino enabled laptops and connected them all via a further laptop and a satellite phone.

Intel has since taken down the WLAN, but did say that the experiment showed that given the right bits of technology, you could create a Wireless LAN anywhere in the world.

Full tags

Hardware, Intel, Wi-Fi