WiFi Range Grows To 1KM

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/69/32817.html">http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/69/32817.html</a><br /><br />"WLAN chipset maker Atheros today promised to eliminate zero-connection zones from homes and offices - and to provide radically extended range on public Wi-Fi hotspots - courtesy of its fourth-generation dual-band 802.11a/g product. The upshot, he said, is that the dead spots encountered inside many buildings - where 802.11a, b or g signals are unable to penetrate the structure sufficiently strongly to maintain a connection. For locations with good line of sight, XR provides around three times the range of rival solutions."<br /><br />The speed drops off the farther away you are from the access point, but that is better than a dropped signal.

[trachy]

This will, of course, be great for businesses, but I don't think it will take off with home users. Frankly, I don't want my wifi signal extending outside my house any further than it already does.

[racerx]

I'm not sure how good this is for business unless you can somehow make it directional. One main battle that any business is faced with deploying wireless is the security. There are many businesses that would benefit from not having to run wireless all over the place, but are not because of the security issues - bleeding signals outside your walls is a major issue. I would certainly hope that you could control the power of these devices to limit the range if you want to.

This might be great for public hotspots, but I certainly don't want to deploy one in my home.

Of course, the real issue is that someone needs to improve on the whole wireless security issue.

[bradolson]

This would be useful for businesses as long as they have the proper security procedures in place. The range can be 50 miles without problems is proper steps are taken.

[AKBishop]

"WLAN chipset maker Atheros today promised to eliminate zero-connection zones from homes and offices - and to provide radically extended range on public Wi-Fi hotspots - courtesy of its fourth-generation dual-band 802.11a/g product.

That means new access points and new WiFi cards, right? You can't just get a new extended range access point because although your standard range WiFi card might receive the signal they could never respond to it.

I don't think all these IT departments that are already strapped for cash but deployed WiFi due to pressure from above are going to want to invest in all new hardware.

One main battle that any business is faced with deploying wireless is the security.

I would think by now any business that is worried about security would've moved to 802.1x. Isn't that secure?

[racerx]

To the best of my knowledge, the only moderately secure wireless system that is widely deployed is Cisco's LEAP. A, B & G are NOT that secure There are people working on making a more secure wi-fi, but as of right now, I'm sure someone could hack almost any wireless system. This may not be too much of an issue for say a real estate office, but a hospital or bank has to make damn sure they're never hacked. I know banks would loose their charter if they were unable to secure their systems.

[doogald]

I'm not sure how good this is for business unless you can somehow make it directional.

That said, my company is thinking about putting WiFi into our warehouses and an extended range would mean that instead of 9 APs we could get by with 2 or 3.

[CameronK]

This would be the perfect solution for me. I live out in the country, and would love to be able to use my pocket pc when I'm out of the house (like for listening to music from the network hard drive while I'm on the mower for two and a half hours). And since I have so few neighbors, and have known all of them for so many years, security wouldn't be a problem (not that they would even know enough about wireless to try to break into my network).

[ctmagnus]

Central to Atheros' pitch is its eXtended Range (XR) technology. Today's Wi-Fi adaptors and base-stations can typically operate at distances of up to 100m before the signal falls beyond the sensitivity of both receivers. XR improves the sensitivity of the chipset's baseband component, from an 802.11 standard-mandated -80dB to -105dB

Which essentially translates to yet another non-standard (YANS).

But there's a second catch: the technology isn't standard. Borison described it euphemistically as "standards-plus", which is really another way of saying proprietary. Atheros' AR5004 series chipsets offer full 802.11a, b and g compatibility within expected ranges, but to go beyond that, you'll need support for XR at both the client and the base-station.


Case and point.

XR does win plaudits for its power consumption profile. Atheros claims a 21 per cent reduction in the power required to transmit data, 30 per cent less to receive and 96 per cent less in idle mode than Intel's Centrino 802.11b adaptor. Borison admits the improvement isn't as much when compared with single-mode 802.11g parts, but it still makes for significant power savings which are likely to appeal to developers of mobile devices such as PDAs and smartphones. The benefits for battery life are clear.

:clap:

[phanprod]

There is no standards issue here - all they've done is increase the sensitivity... quite a bit. Greater sensitivity = extended range, not a new standard. That just means you have to be using a matched XR pair to reap the benifits of extended range, but standard equipment will work just as it does now. No big deal, and easy to incorporate into existing systems over time.

I wouldn't mind getting an XR access point for by business, and upgrading the rest as time and budget permit. Of course, current time and budget restrictions will probably stretch that over a loooooong period, but hey - the thought is good...