I saw the link to the following article in the Mooney mailing list:

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20040729.html

Using specialized antenna, the author was able to connect to his home WiFi from 35 miles out and make a Voice over IP phone call.  The theory is that you can get enough of a WiFi signal when flying over a populated area to do NexRad, e-mails etc.

The article is mentioned here for general interest and is not an endorsement of this concept which has some unresolved moral, technical and reliability issues.

Hamid