Wireless Modem Goes 40 Miles???

I just read this thing on engadget.com that there is this company called Maxstream that makes this wireless modem that works up to 40 miles away. Does anyone know anything about how this works? Is this the future of wireless? It sounds cool if it works.

 

Long range wireless (tens of kilometers) has been around for a while. You need special antennaes. They are particularly succeptible to signal loss in cloudy conditions. You also need line of site - in fact better than line of site as the signal has a blimp shaped signal (long cucumber shape), so the target site needs to be a little away from the horizon, or other obstruction.

Unless they are using a radio signal that can bounce off a layer in the stratosphere, in which case you may need a special license to opperate it in some countries.