The Moon's Internet Connection Is Probably Faster than Yours

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Not happy with your internet speeds? Worried about it getting worse? There's a simple solution: Just move to the Moon. Researchers just beamed Wi-Fi there, and the connection is probably faster than anything you've got in your neighborhood.

Moon Wi-Fi has been a long time coming, but researchers at NASA and MIT have now made it a reality. Using four 6-inch diameter telescopes to beam pulses of infrared light to a satellite circling the Moon, scientists established a solid connection with a speed of 19Mbps down. Yes, that's faster than the United States' national average.

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While it may beat out your friendly neighborhood ISP, it's nothing compared to the ISS-to-Moon connection, which offers a blistering 622 Mbps down. But over an Earth-to-Moon distance of 238,900 miles, 19Mbps down ain't bad. The researchers will present more in-depth findings at the CLEO laser technology conference in California. In the meantime, keep Comcast away from ol' Luna. [Discovery]

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Image: Caspar Benson/Getty Images

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