[Techtalk] Re: wi-fi

[Peggy Baker]

>On Sun, Nov 30, 2003 at 02:40:55AM -0500, Andrew wrote:
> >       I expect this to be as reliable as the wire for my desktop, Is that a
> > valid expectation?   Tripping over the wire, or the rug over the wire is
> > a pain.
>
>It should be reliable, especially if you're close to the access point.
>
> > Approximately 14 feet separate the access and pcmcia card
>
>Is that 14 feet line-of-sight, or are there walls/floors in between? In
>my flat the access point is about 30 feet away, but through a few walls
>and floors, and I was getting horrendous signal quality, droped
>connections, etc. I ended up running a cable to my room!
>
>There should be some errors/warning messages in /var/log/messages about
>the connection. Can you post these? E.g. I often saw something to the
>effect of "access point out of range", quickly followed by "access point
>in range".
>
>-- Carlo


In addition, it depends on which protocol you are using (b vs. g) as many 
cordless phones operate at the same frequency as the wi-fi connection 
2.4ghz.  They will cause the connection to slow down as you describe.  You 
aren't supposed to use wi-fi within 20 feet of a 2.4 ghz cordless phone, 
and I live in an apartment building where there are doubtless many such on 
the floors above and below me.  I can tell when people are getting home 
from work and placing calls, as I watch the speed of my connection drop.  I 
am going to experiment with extended antennae and maybe a repeater.

--Peggy


Peggy Baker
Database Designs Associates, Inc.
Boston   (617) 335-9700
Chicago  (312) 225-3095
www.dbdes.com