Implementing WiFi in the Real World

John Jorsett writes "Seduced by the siren song of wireless access throughout the home, many a user has experienced the discrepancy between the manufacturer's advertised claims (150 feet indoors, 300 outside) and real-world implementation (the living room and upstairs bedroom may as well be on different continents). In steely-eyed determination to exercise his inalienable right to network access anywhere on his property, MSN author Paul Boutin hired a Wi-Fi engineer to help him bathe his property in 802.11 waves, using only mass-market consumer hardware."

Comments

Cartoon

[BWJones]

Yeah well, the cartoon referenced in the article does not do justice to OS X. I am running a couple of websites on OS X with one running on a little old G3 iMac that now has around 80 days of uptime. I never have to touch the thing and it is solid and stable as a rock.

Real problem

[Mr. McGibby]

I've found that among my technically-not-so-savvy friends, family, and coworkers, the real misunderstanding about wireless networks is that they confuse them with wireless *Internet*.

Every time my boss goes out of town, she asks me to make sure that her Airport works correctly so she can get on the Internet from her hotel. And everytime, I have to explain to her that she has a wireless network card, not a wireless Internet card.