[olug] Max range on WAPs

Will Langford unfies at gmail.com
Fri Feb 26 06:18:13 UTC 2010


Best Buy / Walmart etc might have accessories to do what you're needing.

In general, I think the specs on 802.11b say you get ... 150-300 feet line
of sight.  I imagine the higher transmission rate of the newer protocols are
even shorter.

I've seen in-store repeaters or amplifiers, or higher gain antenna's that
can go on certain linksys routers, etc.  Ya might have luck figuring out
some of that stuff.

Back in 1998 with 802.11a, I spent $750 on a couple 1mile line of sight
antenna's so my cousin and I could have a network down the street from each
other (back in the days of 28.8/56k).  Worked pretty good when the antenna's
were in the windows.  Signal had to cut through the corner of a neighbor's
house and through good ole Florida metal window screens.  I still think I
have the antenna's even, heh.  Zoom (as in the old modem ppl) branded and
everything, too.

One other option that is quite evil is to look into possibly building or
buying a couple pringles-can-esque 'cantennas'.  Might be a relatively cheap
way to get 802.11<something> the distance you're talking about.  Being out
in the boonies, ya should feel less guilty about building something that
might have a fair bit of RF leakage, as well.

-Will



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