distance from router???

[RamonT]

How far will the signal reach on the wireless card for my PPC?

Is there a ballpark number, or does it vary? I am wondering because I have a card here, but was going to send it back to Dell. I decided against purchasing a wireless router and therefore, probably can't use it.

Anyway, I was wondering if a neighbor was running a wireless setup,maybe I could run off of theirs? A shot in the dark, but I thought I would ask. Thanks

[Janak Parekh]

There are too many variables to give you a straight answer here.

It depends on:
- Your wireless router vendor
- Your wireless card vendor
- Building properties
- Possible sources of interference

In our house, if the base station is downstairs and I'm upstairs, perhaps 30 feet away, I get a flaky signal without antennas. On the other hand, I've set up base stations in offices where it can reach the entire office, perhaps a 50 foot radius. While a lot of 802.11b base stations have a 150 foot theoretical range, you're talking line-of-sight, more or less, and NYC is a hit-or-miss proposition with steel columns, etc. This is with ORiNOCO equipment which is known for its range.

On the other extreme, people have gotten miles with directional antennas.

--janak

[Brad Adrian]

Realistically, if you live in an apartment, there's a very good chance that you and your neighbor can share a signal. However, if you live in separate houses and they have standard drywall and wooden exteriors, you might be able to share a signal, but I wouldn't count on it being too reliable.

[Ramon]

Thanks guys. That pretty much sealed my "wireless" fate, for now anyways. I'll send the cardback and get some extra memory.


Thank you again

[67stang]

Realistically, if you live in an apartment, there's a very good chance that you and your neighbor can share a signal. However, if you live in separate houses and they have standard drywall and wooden exteriors, you might be able to share a signal, but I wouldn't count on it being too reliable.


i dont know if I agree. but i guess it depends on what we percieve as normal distances between homes, etc. I live in the bay area and land is not cheap, new homes are an arms distance between each other!

That being said, last night I found my neighbors shared docs listed on my network... he was leaching of my wireless router. His home is about 40 yards away. My router is next to a window in my office, and i can see his office window line-of-sight. So I imagine he was getting adequate connection signal. In fact, later today I will park up the street and use my PDA to measure the signal strength near his house. I am curious if it's better than what I get downstairs in my own home with the signal obstructed by the walls, etc. Right now, just 10-15 feet away from the router, but downstairs, I only get "poor" link quality on the Linksys scale.