by Lee Asher

How far can wireless go? Well, really, the answer is as far as you want it to, or as far as you can afford. You see, even though each wireless transmitter has a range limit, you can install things called wireless extension points, often called repeaters, to boost the signal and make your networks range even longer.

So you’re not getting the 11Mbps speed that you thought your cards manufacturer promised? If you read your card or Access Points spec carefully, youll probably see that data rates are specified as a function of distance. Data rate drops off very quickly with distance for 802.11b products.

What is a Repeater?

As you get further away from the origin of a wireless signal, it gets weaker and weaker, until eventually it is impossible to receive at all. No matter how much you spend on high-powered wireless equipment, you will eventually reach a point where your network just won’t stretch any further.
Continue reading ‘Increasing the Range of your Wireless Access Points’

by Lee Asher

Wireless is a technology that’s cheap, easy and useful right now, and yet its a technology thats still very young. Here’s a quick look at what the future could hold for wireless networking. It will only improve and develop with time.
Continue reading ‘The Future of Wireless Networking’

by Lee Asher

Well, you’d be surprised. There really are all sorts of things you can do with wireless networks — you’re only really limited by your imagination! THE Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) yesterday released results of a six-month trial of an advanced wireless networking system which is expected to be commercially deployed here by 2005.

The $600,000 trial between April and October this year at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) involved four equipment vendors: Avaya, Cisco, Intel, and Proxim.

Here are a few weird and wonderful ideas to get you started, but dont be afraid to try out anything else you think of.
Continue reading ‘Advanced Wireless Networking’