actually, I think that is better. For example, I have a cordless phone. The base has this really annoying blue LED. During the nights it makes my white ceiling a beautiful blue sky imitation. Problem is, I don't like that much light. So I put a little tape over it. I still can see the LED to see if it's charging (the contacts are busted, so, many times it doesn't make contact. I can tell if it works because the blue LED shines through the tape, but not enough to illuminate anything else).
I mean, all those LEDs are indicators. You WANT them to indicate something, you don't really want to completely block them all.
you may want to put a CD or CD-R even, and look at the sun through it. You'll see that it shines through. Yet, the aluminum layer thickness in a CD is 50nm, or 400 times thicker than what you said.
Also, you could try looking through an aluminum foil and you'll see too, that the sun shines through. You see, not everything in the world is perfect. Not every atom is where it's supposed to be, there are millions of tiny little holes, cracks, etc where light can pass. GP is right, REAL LIFE thin aluminum foils (kitchen grade?) are not 100% opaque.
See if I buy Disney media anything ever again, it's off to TPB and netflix + anydvd + dvd decrypter.
Or you could skip disney altogether, and buy the pirate version. You see, disney gets some money from the rental, so they're not really "losing". On the other hand, if you buy the pirate version, disney gets nothing. IMHO, you have the moral right to do that, I mean, they screwed you? Well, you screw them too. 'Nuff said.
I have a feeling that this would be a new Slashdot Classic. Congratulations for being the first slashdotter to use it!. Now, who wants to start tagging with "dumbestfuckingidea" ?
Actually the GP was talking about the "western world", but he doesn't like it to be called the "west" because there "aren't" democracies in south america, apparently. Someone from Chile please stand up! Chile has one of the best democracies in South America, in my opinion. We had dictatorships, but it's been over 25 years since that (Malvinas), and we have matured since them. But well, if we're going to talk about the dictators in South America (Pinochet, Massera, Videla,...) we have to talk about the US plans to eradicate communism from latin america too, and that's where it gets nasty.
well, it's just how you say it. I happen to live in Argentina, and I don't like to be put in the same bag as, I don't know, Paraguay maybe. Not because I'm a racist, but because we in Argentina, for example, do have a public health system (you have to pay for the hospital in Paraguay, people die of Dengue and some come over to Argentina for treatment, which we provide, free of charge, even knowing that they're foreigners), and we have industry (modest, yes, but it exists. We just sold a nuclear reactor to Australia and provide them Uranium too). It annoys me when people say things like "I certainly don't include them". Certainly? What? Does that mean that, because we live in South America we are automatically poor? That's not true, some countries (such as mine) are just richer ("better managed" would be a better term) than others. The problem is that most people seem to think of south america as Cuba, dictatorships, etc. It's not like that at all. That's what I hate. Being discriminated (ok, not literally) because I live south of the equator.
Please remember that the West may include South America - but only if you disregard the economic criteria. I certainly don't include them. But perhaps it would be better to compare apples with apples.
Dude, next time try to sound just a *little* less racist, OK?
Edgeline technology is said to be so ink-efficient that if HP were to sell these printers, they would never match the money they make from consumables (cartridges etc) now.
Bull. They realized they can't win against cartridge refills. So this is what they're doing to stop refillers.
$550? That's way off. That's probably counting the government's "unemployment plans" which give you $150 (USD 50) a month for doing nothing (the gov't counts those plans as jobs, to lower the unemployment figure, which is rather high).
"Minimum" salaries are 850 a month (people making less than that usually get power and water for free or with high discounts -- poverty discounts. They also get free food. So salary alone is not a good index, one should count the power, water and food they get, too.)
FWIW, my house is big, we have 3 air conditioners (12000 btu each), running about 10 hours a day (45C in summer), 2 water heaters (1500W each), one large A/C (24000 BTU), running 2 hours a day, some lights, my athlon64 X2 (energy efficient - plus a 17" LCD, 96W according to my APC BR1000I), a similar computer downstairs, 3 29" CRT TV, dishwasher, washing machine, and an XBOX. We pay about $350 a month (USD 112), including taxes. I think it's about 1500KW or so in summer, and half that in winter.
I live in Argentina, I pay $ 0,07-something for the first 50kW and the rest $0,1533. $ is for Pesos, 1 peso = about USD 0,32. So that's USD 0,05/KW. And I think I live in a place where electricity is expensive. Unreliable? Don't think so. Sometimes power fails but only for a few minutes. No more than once every 1 or 2 months (**knocks on wood**). 230V 50Hz, fwiw.
Though they could never get it to peg the processors, even while playing 8 high-def videos on it.
OK, my main "workstation" now is an Atnlon 64 X2 3800+ on an Asus M2NPV-VM, a motherboard sold more as a "media center PC" than a real PC (it comes with the video/s-video/YPbPr connectors). I can easily play six 720p videos without a problem (on VLC). The secret is the integrated video: it has HD acceleration (nVidia PureVideo?). Point is, you don't really need the fastest processor on the block to abuse video. You just need dedicated hardware (a $10,000 card? I would buy it if I were a pro, and knew that it could kick a $10,000 computers' ass, which I'm pretty sure it will).
no. don't walk away. a discussion is the best way to teach, and also learn. an exchange of opinions doesn't hurt anyone and we all benefit from it. so:
ok, let's not oversimplify. you can't go talking about stealing and punishment (unless you're a lawyer in front of a camera). downloading music doesn't necessarily mean you are stealing, and stealing doesn't necessarily mean you will go to jail (even if you get caught). for that, there's a legal system. if everything was so simple, then killing someone to defend yourself would mean jailtime, or even the chair. but it's not. what's my point? well, my point is that everything is not completely black or white, there are infinite shades of gray inbetween.
the reasoning is, how can I be sued for "stealing" something that they don't sell, or plan to sell, or have ever sold, in my country? if I download 2 or 3 songs, what economical damage have I done to them to justify legal actions against me? none, that's why they offer to settle. if they were sure they would win, they would go straight to court and make you pay for every penny. does the law consider even those particular cases? I doubt it.
and I'm basing on a simple thing to make such a statement. "Fair Use". If anything, fair use is taking a little from the copyright holder's right. But, let's face it: using a screen capture to illustrate a Wikipedia article is something they could use to bother you. They don't even allow small clips of "copyrighted" stuff on youtube. Why not? It's a way of promoting their product, but we all know that they don't do it for the copyright. They do it for the control. They don't want you spending time on youtube, they want you watching whatever they want you to watch, at whatever time they consider appropriate. So, they don't like time-shifting either. Why not? Why are they afraid of that? Where do we draw a line between their rights and your rights?. Did the patriots spill their blood so giant corporations could have the liberty of suing children? Making them look like criminals, for their own convenience?
Another case of fair use: buy a CD, and copy it to have it on the car too. Totally illegal, you're a criminal and you should go to jail, apologize in public, and promise to never do it again. Ok WHAT? I thought (I might have been wrong), that I was buying the contents of the CD, and not the CD itself. I paid for the music. So what next? If I buy a jar of mayonnaise, and put the mayonnaise on a more convenient dispenser, Hellmann's will come knocking at my door because I "misused" their product? Come on. Well, suppose you DON'T have the right to copy your CDs. So you have them in your car, and then you bring them back to the house, and so on. Will they provide another CD if yours gets scratched? Hell no. Will they make a discount if you buy the same CD? Hell no!. So, what are they selling? The CD? Then I can do whatever I want with the contents of it. Or are they selling the contents, in which case they should provide a way of replacing your media in case it gets damaged (it's not my fault that, because of the way they're made, CDs can scratch. Or worse).
Or what about pirating Microsoft? In the US, a copy of Vista costs, I don't know, 200 bucks. That's expensive, but not really that much... for an American. What about "The Rest of the World"? In my country, 200 dollars means 2 months of work for some people. Why doesn't Microsoft adjust their prices? The games cost far less than in the US (for example, a game that costs 60 to 80 dollars in the US, will be at about $20 to $40 here). Movies are cheaper. Much cheaper: last time I went to a cinema, a few months ago, my ticket was $5. That's five pesos, or about USD 1,60. Is it a crappy cinema? No, it's a large screen, surround sound, comfortable seats, carpeted floor, etc. So what does Microsoft offer for us, "the poor"? "Starter edition", a crippled version of Windows, made for people who don't deserve to have Windows. They don't even sell with student discounts here in my country. so what's people to do? don
ok, cut the patriotic bush crap, you're not the only country with patriots, ok? you think there is no spilled blood from patriots in my country (a former Spanish colony that after a revolution and a war, got its independence?). but I seriously, SERIOUSLY doubt the patriots gave their life for my country so I can but songs on iTunes.
So, you might as well get some perspective yourself. Or, stop the fucking karma-whoring altogether. Nice move, indeed. mention the patriots and try to sound smart so you can get some points.
what about me? I live in a country where Apple (or anyone) doesn't sell songs for 99c a piece. There are thousands of albums not published in my country. So what do I do? Pay 5x the price of the album (considering cost, international shipping, taxes, customs, etc) for just 1 song I may happen to like?
Seems that I'll just have to settle with what the music industry sells in my country. I guess liberty and options come only at a very high price. If you're poor, or even middle-high class in a poor country, you can't listen to what you want to listen. Gotta love capitalism!
The Killer NIC is nothing more than a glorified router shrinked to the size of a PCI card.
no it's not. first of all, don't mix up "router" with the "broadband router" crap you buy for $20. second, any router will indeed increase your latency, while this card reduces it. it's just a network offloading engine on steroids. as no one will ever push gigabit here (because of the PCI bus limitations). so, as it has a whole lot of unused power, it can be used to run apps on it.
gold-plated connectors for digital interfaces is absurd.
ever looked at ANY PCI card? notice how the contacts are golden? notice that they don't rust? guess what. gold plated. it's just that gold plating is so overrated. a few grams of gold are enough to plate hundreds of PCI cards, so it doesn't add that much to the price of the card or connector actually. so yes, even digital interfaces benefit from gold plating (probably more than analog connections do).
Well, I should have said it's not practical to "install" then. When it works, it works, but when it doesn't, it's a pain to make it work. I spent hours at my cousin's home roaming around the house looking for a place where there was a telephone drop and an outlet nearby, and also had good coverage.
Regarding the price of wire, that's not completely true. An access point and a wireless NIC cost more than the wired solution. For instance, network cable (CAT5e) costs ARS 1,50 for 1 meter (USD 0,50) or ARS 300 (USD 96) for 305 meters. RJ-45 plugs, like USD 0,10. AMP Cat5E jacks, $4. For a 30 meter run (the average for my house), it costs USD 23 or so. A switch costs USD 15. On the other hand, a wireless NIC costs $30, and a decent AP, $100. So a 5 computer setup costs $ 116 for wired vs. $ 250 for wireless. Oh, and in a third world country, I wouldn't make the $134 difference in a day. (Here in the third world, computers don't come with onboard Wi-Fi, and laptops aren't commonplace).
Of course, if you want to roam around with your laptop, wireless is the only way to go.
Regarding the "third world" status, well, Argentina is a nice place, and we do have Louis Vuitton shops and Maserati dealerships, and in some places of Buenos Aires you could actually think that you went to Europe... well I have an iPod and everyone asks about it, because they're so rare here ($20 generic players are everywhere). We are also currently in the middle of a Dengue outbreak in the north (although this is Paraguay's fault) and Argentina's main airport -Ezeiza, the gateway to the country. Remember that name as you're going through it if you come here- is running on manual because the radar broke 2 weeks ago and there's a huge scandal about that now (If you're interested on that, you can watch "Fuerza Aerea S.A" --roughly "Air Force Inc.", a documentary about the situation of airports in Argentina). So, if I were you, I'd wait a few months before taking a flight down here.
I guess you'd be going to the touristic places (the waterfalls -watch out for Dengue!-, the glacier, the mountains, etc). But when you're in Buenos Aires, keep your wallet in a safe place all the time. Crooks are really good here. How good? Well, someone managed to steal Barbara Bush's purse (yes, George W's daughter). OK, she left her purse in a chair on an open air cafe, which is pretty stupid even of she wasn't in Buenos Aires (a city of 12 million inhabitants). But how someone robs the US president's daughter, with Secret Service agents all around, is still something that amazes me.
what does it have to do with that? Did I say that you shouldn't use wireless? Did I say that you should always be tied to a network cable? Did I say that people who use Wireless are stupid? No. I just said that wireless doesn't work just like it's supposed to be. I'd be happy if I can just plug an access point somewhere in my house (not necessarily ANYwhere), and have it cover my whole house.
Is it too much to ask? NO IT'S NOT! I have a 2,4GHz phone (no you smart asses, I didn't have it yet when I tried wireless, so it's not the cause of trouble), and it covers ALL my house. The base is located in a corner, and I get signal everywhere in my house, also in the backyard and even some signal across the street (with no static). Why does a cordless phone "just work", and Wi-Fi does not?
Besides, you stated yourself that you have 3 access points to cover your house. Why do you need to have THREE access points? Why doesn't it work for a regular house with just ONE access point? (As my cordless phone does).
sure, I was just joking. When dealing with 25km links I worry about the fresnel radius, antena height, and watertight enclosures. I always wondered. why go with 2,4GHz wireless? there's 900MHz (or so) wireless AFAIK, which penetrates walls just fine (I guess the antenna size is the key here). I *KNOW* more APs will make it work, but that makes it more complicated, adds more points of failure (MTBF kicks in), but most important: average joe will not know how to set up a wireless mesh (neither will he know that the speed will halve with every AP you add to the mesh, as stated in the manual of some gear I installed once).
I have received a lot of "hate replies" saying that the problem is "my house". Well, I know you americans live in your pretty, huge suburban drywall houses, but we in "the rest of the world" usually live in brick houses. I have yet to see extensive use of drywall in a house down here. We do use it here, but only for ceilings and some decorations. In my area we also use tin roofs (which happen to last forever even though in summer it can get from 50C to 20C in matter of minutes).
We also have big houses too. My 400 m2 house is located on a 200 m2 space wich happens to cost "just $ 120.000 or so, not counting the value of the house", and it's located 6 blocks (600 meters) from downtown. It's not a bad city either. It's not Buenos Aires but we manage to live decently. So, in a place where most houses are as big as mine (and some much larger), and where houses are made of brick, I guess I CAN say that Wi-Fi is not practical, not only for me but for the millions of houses around, made of brick, that won't be able to enjoy wireless as it's supposed to be (that is, just work).
Slashdot Mirror
that's not a bug! that's a feature!
actually, I think that is better. For example, I have a cordless phone. The base has this really annoying blue LED. During the nights it makes my white ceiling a beautiful blue sky imitation. Problem is, I don't like that much light. So I put a little tape over it. I still can see the LED to see if it's charging (the contacts are busted, so, many times it doesn't make contact. I can tell if it works because the blue LED shines through the tape, but not enough to illuminate anything else).
I mean, all those LEDs are indicators. You WANT them to indicate something, you don't really want to completely block them all.
I thought we were discussing about blocking LEDs with electrical tape and aluminum foil.
you may want to put a CD or CD-R even, and look at the sun through it. You'll see that it shines through. Yet, the aluminum layer thickness in a CD is 50nm, or 400 times thicker than what you said.
Also, you could try looking through an aluminum foil and you'll see too, that the sun shines through. You see, not everything in the world is perfect. Not every atom is where it's supposed to be, there are millions of tiny little holes, cracks, etc where light can pass. GP is right, REAL LIFE thin aluminum foils (kitchen grade?) are not 100% opaque.
Uruguay is not a third world country, mind you.
I have a feeling that this would be a new Slashdot Classic. Congratulations for being the first slashdotter to use it!. Now, who wants to start tagging with "dumbestfuckingidea" ?
Wait a second, they're talking about RECYCLING computers? I didn't know people throws them away. Maybe I'm just too much of a geek.
Actually the GP was talking about the "western world", but he doesn't like it to be called the "west" because there "aren't" democracies in south america, apparently. Someone from Chile please stand up! Chile has one of the best democracies in South America, in my opinion. We had dictatorships, but it's been over 25 years since that (Malvinas), and we have matured since them. But well, if we're going to talk about the dictators in South America (Pinochet, Massera, Videla, ...) we have to talk about the US plans to eradicate communism from latin america too, and that's where it gets nasty.
well, it's just how you say it. I happen to live in Argentina, and I don't like to be put in the same bag as, I don't know, Paraguay maybe. Not because I'm a racist, but because we in Argentina, for example, do have a public health system (you have to pay for the hospital in Paraguay, people die of Dengue and some come over to Argentina for treatment, which we provide, free of charge, even knowing that they're foreigners), and we have industry (modest, yes, but it exists. We just sold a nuclear reactor to Australia and provide them Uranium too). It annoys me when people say things like "I certainly don't include them". Certainly? What? Does that mean that, because we live in South America we are automatically poor? That's not true, some countries (such as mine) are just richer ("better managed" would be a better term) than others. The problem is that most people seem to think of south america as Cuba, dictatorships, etc. It's not like that at all. That's what I hate. Being discriminated (ok, not literally) because I live south of the equator.
www.freenetproject.org
$550? That's way off. That's probably counting the government's "unemployment plans" which give you $150 (USD 50) a month for doing nothing (the gov't counts those plans as jobs, to lower the unemployment figure, which is rather high).
"Minimum" salaries are 850 a month (people making less than that usually get power and water for free or with high discounts -- poverty discounts. They also get free food. So salary alone is not a good index, one should count the power, water and food they get, too.)
FWIW, my house is big, we have 3 air conditioners (12000 btu each), running about 10 hours a day (45C in summer), 2 water heaters (1500W each), one large A/C (24000 BTU), running 2 hours a day, some lights, my athlon64 X2 (energy efficient - plus a 17" LCD, 96W according to my APC BR1000I), a similar computer downstairs, 3 29" CRT TV, dishwasher, washing machine, and an XBOX. We pay about $350 a month (USD 112), including taxes. I think it's about 1500KW or so in summer, and half that in winter.
I live in Argentina, I pay $ 0,07-something for the first 50kW and the rest $0,1533. $ is for Pesos, 1 peso = about USD 0,32. So that's USD 0,05/KW. And I think I live in a place where electricity is expensive. Unreliable? Don't think so. Sometimes power fails but only for a few minutes. No more than once every 1 or 2 months (**knocks on wood**). 230V 50Hz, fwiw.
no. don't walk away. a discussion is the best way to teach, and also learn. an exchange of opinions doesn't hurt anyone and we all benefit from it. so:
ok, let's not oversimplify. you can't go talking about stealing and punishment (unless you're a lawyer in front of a camera). downloading music doesn't necessarily mean you are stealing, and stealing doesn't necessarily mean you will go to jail (even if you get caught). for that, there's a legal system. if everything was so simple, then killing someone to defend yourself would mean jailtime, or even the chair. but it's not. what's my point? well, my point is that everything is not completely black or white, there are infinite shades of gray inbetween.
the reasoning is, how can I be sued for "stealing" something that they don't sell, or plan to sell, or have ever sold, in my country? if I download 2 or 3 songs, what economical damage have I done to them to justify legal actions against me? none, that's why they offer to settle. if they were sure they would win, they would go straight to court and make you pay for every penny. does the law consider even those particular cases? I doubt it.
and I'm basing on a simple thing to make such a statement. "Fair Use". If anything, fair use is taking a little from the copyright holder's right. But, let's face it: using a screen capture to illustrate a Wikipedia article is something they could use to bother you. They don't even allow small clips of "copyrighted" stuff on youtube. Why not? It's a way of promoting their product, but we all know that they don't do it for the copyright. They do it for the control. They don't want you spending time on youtube, they want you watching whatever they want you to watch, at whatever time they consider appropriate. So, they don't like time-shifting either. Why not? Why are they afraid of that? Where do we draw a line between their rights and your rights?. Did the patriots spill their blood so giant corporations could have the liberty of suing children? Making them look like criminals, for their own convenience?
Another case of fair use: buy a CD, and copy it to have it on the car too. Totally illegal, you're a criminal and you should go to jail, apologize in public, and promise to never do it again. Ok WHAT? I thought (I might have been wrong), that I was buying the contents of the CD, and not the CD itself. I paid for the music. So what next? If I buy a jar of mayonnaise, and put the mayonnaise on a more convenient dispenser, Hellmann's will come knocking at my door because I "misused" their product? Come on. Well, suppose you DON'T have the right to copy your CDs. So you have them in your car, and then you bring them back to the house, and so on. Will they provide another CD if yours gets scratched? Hell no. Will they make a discount if you buy the same CD? Hell no!. So, what are they selling? The CD? Then I can do whatever I want with the contents of it. Or are they selling the contents, in which case they should provide a way of replacing your media in case it gets damaged (it's not my fault that, because of the way they're made, CDs can scratch. Or worse).
Or what about pirating Microsoft? In the US, a copy of Vista costs, I don't know, 200 bucks. That's expensive, but not really that much... for an American. What about "The Rest of the World"? In my country, 200 dollars means 2 months of work for some people. Why doesn't Microsoft adjust their prices? The games cost far less than in the US (for example, a game that costs 60 to 80 dollars in the US, will be at about $20 to $40 here). Movies are cheaper. Much cheaper: last time I went to a cinema, a few months ago, my ticket was $5. That's five pesos, or about USD 1,60. Is it a crappy cinema? No, it's a large screen, surround sound, comfortable seats, carpeted floor, etc. So what does Microsoft offer for us, "the poor"? "Starter edition", a crippled version of Windows, made for people who don't deserve to have Windows. They don't even sell with student discounts here in my country. so what's people to do? don
ok, cut the patriotic bush crap, you're not the only country with patriots, ok? you think there is no spilled blood from patriots in my country (a former Spanish colony that after a revolution and a war, got its independence?). but I seriously, SERIOUSLY doubt the patriots gave their life for my country so I can but songs on iTunes.
So, you might as well get some perspective yourself. Or, stop the fucking karma-whoring altogether. Nice move, indeed. mention the patriots and try to sound smart so you can get some points.
what about me? I live in a country where Apple (or anyone) doesn't sell songs for 99c a piece. There are thousands of albums not published in my country. So what do I do? Pay 5x the price of the album (considering cost, international shipping, taxes, customs, etc) for just 1 song I may happen to like?
Seems that I'll just have to settle with what the music industry sells in my country. I guess liberty and options come only at a very high price. If you're poor, or even middle-high class in a poor country, you can't listen to what you want to listen. Gotta love capitalism!
I prefer Old Fortran for my robots.
a song comes to mind: "The Sound of Goodbye" by Perpetuous Dreamer
Like a stream that flows into the sea
I am lost for all eternity
Ever since you took your love away from me
Sometimes
The sound of goodbye
Is louder
Than any drumbeat
Well, I should have said it's not practical to "install" then. When it works, it works, but when it doesn't, it's a pain to make it work. I spent hours at my cousin's home roaming around the house looking for a place where there was a telephone drop and an outlet nearby, and also had good coverage.
Regarding the price of wire, that's not completely true. An access point and a wireless NIC cost more than the wired solution. For instance, network cable (CAT5e) costs ARS 1,50 for 1 meter (USD 0,50) or ARS 300 (USD 96) for 305 meters. RJ-45 plugs, like USD 0,10. AMP Cat5E jacks, $4. For a 30 meter run (the average for my house), it costs USD 23 or so. A switch costs USD 15. On the other hand, a wireless NIC costs $30, and a decent AP, $100. So a 5 computer setup costs $ 116 for wired vs. $ 250 for wireless. Oh, and in a third world country, I wouldn't make the $134 difference in a day. (Here in the third world, computers don't come with onboard Wi-Fi, and laptops aren't commonplace).
Of course, if you want to roam around with your laptop, wireless is the only way to go.
Regarding the "third world" status, well, Argentina is a nice place, and we do have Louis Vuitton shops and Maserati dealerships, and in some places of Buenos Aires you could actually think that you went to Europe... well I have an iPod and everyone asks about it, because they're so rare here ($20 generic players are everywhere). We are also currently in the middle of a Dengue outbreak in the north (although this is Paraguay's fault) and Argentina's main airport -Ezeiza, the gateway to the country. Remember that name as you're going through it if you come here- is running on manual because the radar broke 2 weeks ago and there's a huge scandal about that now (If you're interested on that, you can watch "Fuerza Aerea S.A" --roughly "Air Force Inc.", a documentary about the situation of airports in Argentina). So, if I were you, I'd wait a few months before taking a flight down here.
I guess you'd be going to the touristic places (the waterfalls -watch out for Dengue!-, the glacier, the mountains, etc). But when you're in Buenos Aires, keep your wallet in a safe place all the time. Crooks are really good here. How good? Well, someone managed to steal Barbara Bush's purse (yes, George W's daughter). OK, she left her purse in a chair on an open air cafe, which is pretty stupid even of she wasn't in Buenos Aires (a city of 12 million inhabitants). But how someone robs the US president's daughter, with Secret Service agents all around, is still something that amazes me.
what does it have to do with that? Did I say that you shouldn't use wireless? Did I say that you should always be tied to a network cable? Did I say that people who use Wireless are stupid? No. I just said that wireless doesn't work just like it's supposed to be. I'd be happy if I can just plug an access point somewhere in my house (not necessarily ANYwhere), and have it cover my whole house.
Is it too much to ask? NO IT'S NOT! I have a 2,4GHz phone (no you smart asses, I didn't have it yet when I tried wireless, so it's not the cause of trouble), and it covers ALL my house. The base is located in a corner, and I get signal everywhere in my house, also in the backyard and even some signal across the street (with no static). Why does a cordless phone "just work", and Wi-Fi does not?
Besides, you stated yourself that you have 3 access points to cover your house. Why do you need to have THREE access points? Why doesn't it work for a regular house with just ONE access point? (As my cordless phone does).
sure, I was just joking. When dealing with 25km links I worry about the fresnel radius, antena height, and watertight enclosures. I always wondered. why go with 2,4GHz wireless? there's 900MHz (or so) wireless AFAIK, which penetrates walls just fine (I guess the antenna size is the key here). I *KNOW* more APs will make it work, but that makes it more complicated, adds more points of failure (MTBF kicks in), but most important: average joe will not know how to set up a wireless mesh (neither will he know that the speed will halve with every AP you add to the mesh, as stated in the manual of some gear I installed once).
I have received a lot of "hate replies" saying that the problem is "my house". Well, I know you americans live in your pretty, huge suburban drywall houses, but we in "the rest of the world" usually live in brick houses. I have yet to see extensive use of drywall in a house down here. We do use it here, but only for ceilings and some decorations. In my area we also use tin roofs (which happen to last forever even though in summer it can get from 50C to 20C in matter of minutes).
We also have big houses too. My 400 m2 house is located on a 200 m2 space wich happens to cost "just $ 120.000 or so, not counting the value of the house", and it's located 6 blocks (600 meters) from downtown. It's not a bad city either. It's not Buenos Aires but we manage to live decently. So, in a place where most houses are as big as mine (and some much larger), and where houses are made of brick, I guess I CAN say that Wi-Fi is not practical, not only for me but for the millions of houses around, made of brick, that won't be able to enjoy wireless as it's supposed to be (that is, just work).