LEDs Could Replace Your Wi-Fi

Whenever you use Wi-Fi to text or download a Serial podcast, the data travels over radio waves. The trouble is that these waves occupy such a narrow pathway along the electromagnetic spectrum, which limits the available bandwidth for smartphones and other devices. “You can never create more spectrum,” says Harald Haas, a lead mobile communications researcher at the University of Edinburgh. If radio waves are like a crowded single-lane road, visible lightwaves are like a wide-open freeway. The solution for faster downloads is to take advantage of this larger swath through LED bulbs.