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Pushing Wi-Fi's Limits: Problems and Solutions
securitas writes "Forbes technology columnist Arik Hesseldahl discusses the problems with 802.11x Wi-Fi - speed and range - and how to push its limits in a pair of his Ten O'Clock Tech columns. He discusses the alphabet soup of Wi-Fi standards, so-called 'Super G' dual channel bonding that allows two of 11 channels to act as one (and the interference problems that ensue), and the multiple input/multiple output (MIMO) method 'using multiple antennas to break a single, high-rate signal into several lower-rate signals' that could be a solution. Pushing Wi-Fi's Limits, Part Two focuses on repeaters, Wi-Fi mesh networks, WiMax and a company called BelAir Networks that has deployed several Wi-Fi mesh networks."
Bah... We already have AM, FM, TV, and all other sorts of signals going through us... we arent seeing any adverse side-effects, are we?
How would we know?
Etiquette is etiquette. He kills his mother but he can't wear grey trousers.
One thing that scares me is the multi-channel radios. There are effectively only three non-overlapping channels, and some APs are starting to take up two of them? I know the spectrum is unlicenced for low power, but I think that's usually just rude and mean for one person to just take two channels. Right now, I experiment with three APs being on, all three channels, but being in a rural area and having checked with all the neighbors, no one else is using the spectrum near me.
The rate of cancer that we found went up 64% between 1970 and 1997. That doens't necessarily mean there was 64% more cancer, it just means we know how to find cancer better. I'm not saying that cancer hasn't gone up any, but it's probably not that dramatic.
I can sit in a college library and browse people's laptops as if they are on a trusted network. People don't realize how public WiFi is in these environments. I think the main cause for this is the connection wizard (microsoft specifically). When you first connect the computer for wireless access it automagically, without a lot of warning, shares folders, printers ... etc, because it is assuming you are at your house with your linksys router; not at the library, coffee shop, or hijacking i-net from an apartment complex across the street.
Although there is never enough bandwidth, until we can solve the last mile bottleneck, 11Mbs 802.11b networks will be sufficient. With ADSL and cablemodem rates at less than 1Mbs that is where the problem needs to be solved.