Wi-fi has untethered Web surfers from phone and network cables, but users still can't stray more than about a hundred meters from a transmitter before they lose their connections. A wireless technology with better range may soon cut this invisible leash.

The Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers is standardizing a technology called 802.16, or WirelessMAN, for Wireless Metropolitan-Area Networking, which should enable computers to communicate wirelessly over kilometers. At least 25 companies, including Intel and Nokia, have joined the WiMAX Forum, an industry group that is forming to promote the new technology. Products compliant with the standard should begin hitting retail stores' shelves by the end of 2004.