Pushing Wi-Fi's Limits: Problems and Solutions

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday July 5, 2004 @09:08AM from the bits-and-bytes-wizzing-around-your-noggin dept.

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."

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Problems on a more fundamental level by BelugaParty · 2004-07-05 09:50 · Score: 5, Insightful

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.