How to take action against external wireless interference?

I am experiencing on and off wireless (and cordless phone) interference,
mostly on, but sometimes it disappears for as much as a day at a time. A
few months back, I never had any interference at all whenever I used my
phones and network. I have ruled out the common things such as phones (by
completely unpowering bases and handsets) and microwave.

Occasionally the interference is off, and the 2.4 Ghz phones and wireless
LAN (Using new Apple Airport wireless lan and Airport extreme card) work
flawlessly and do not interfere with each other. I believe that one or
both both may have the capacity to jump to non-interfering channels.

When the interference is on, the airport equipment does not see each
other, the phones have an audible interference, and completely powering
down either the phones or the wireless network does not help the other to
work.

I have suspicions (completely unproven) that the interference may be
caused by the Digus wireless internet service offered in the
area for which people in the area spend about $400 for a line-of-sight
transmitter/receiver from which to supply internet service to their houses.

I really want to solve the problem one way or the other, but do not have
the knowledge to do so. I would like pointers, if any to information on
the following possible approaches (if they sound silly, it is because I am
casting about for new solutions):

1. How to inexpensively establish where the interfering signal is coming
from, either by calling someone who does this inexpensively or by some
other means.

2. How to put enough of a wire mesh around the house to disrupt the
interference (is it possible in an existing house with normal windows, etc.?).

3. How to legally disrupt the interfering signal so that whoever is
broadcasting it will find me and cooperate in reducing the interference to
a level that I can still use the phones and wireless network.

4. Any other approach or alternative diagnosis that may come to mind.

I realize that this may be the wrong news group, if so, please give me
suggestions on the right one.

Thanks,

Ray Whitmer

Ray Whitmer wrote:
> I am experiencing on and off wireless (and cordless phone) interference,
> mostly on, but sometimes it disappears for as much as a day at a time. A
> few months back, I never had any interference at all whenever I used my
> phones and network. I have ruled out the common things such as phones (by
> completely unpowering bases and handsets) and microwave.

Would you be terribly distressed to learn that if an unlicensed service
(WiFi) is experiencing interference from a licensed service, the unlicensed
service must accept the interference?

--
John Miller, N4VU
My email address: domain, n4vu.com; username, jsm

I know engineers. They love to change things.
-Dr. McCoy

Ray Whitmer wrote:

> 3. How to legally disrupt the interfering signal so that whoever is
> broadcasting it will find me and cooperate in reducing the interference to
> a level that I can still use the phones and wireless network.
>

If the interference is caused by a licenced service, such as that wireless
internet provider you mentioned, you're out of luck. The regulations under
which 802.11 devices and cordless phones operate, state that you must
accept such interference and cannot create interference to licenced
services. This means that if you delberately interfere with them, you
could find yourself in the prison. They have absolutely no requirement to
consider you, when they set up their system.

--

Fundamentalism is fundamentally wrong.

To reply to this message, replace everything to the left of "@" with
james.knott.

On Thu, 15 Jan 2004 02:21:02 +0000, James Knott wrote:

> Ray Whitmer wrote:
>
>> [quoted text muted]
>
> If the interference is caused by a licenced service, such as that wireless
> internet provider you mentioned, you're out of luck. The regulations under
> which 802.11 devices and cordless phones operate, state that you must
> accept such interference and cannot create interference to licenced
> services. This means that if you delberately interfere with them, you
> could find yourself in the prison. They have absolutely no requirement to
> consider you, when they set up their system.

I suspected that this might be the case, which was why I asked the
question and stated "legally". I had heard that the region where wireless
operates was unregulated, but it was not clear to me that this would not
also be true of interfering services, especially where I do not know with
whom I am interfering in the first place and whether they are licensed or
also operating in an unregulated fashion.

A reference to such information would be appreciated, as would be
information on other possible approaches either such as I suggested or
otherwise.

I am already sorry I wasted a lot of money on the wireless technology,
which worked at the time I bought it, but not too long thereafter. I
guess there is significant value in regulation of such things which is
missing in these cases and buying equipment from a reputable company such
as Apple is of no value in this case.

Thanks,

Ray Whitmer

"Ray Whitmer" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Thu, 15 Jan 2004 02:21:02 +0000, James Knott wrote:
>
> > Ray Whitmer wrote:
> >
> >> [quoted text muted]
> >
> > If the interference is caused by a licenced service, such as that
wireless
> > internet provider you mentioned, you're out of luck. The regulations
under
> > which 802.11 devices and cordless phones operate, state that you must
> > accept such interference and cannot create interference to licenced
> > services. This means that if you delberately interfere with them, you
> > could find yourself in the prison. They have absolutely no requirement
to
> > consider you, when they set up their system.
>
> I suspected that this might be the case, which was why I asked the
> question and stated "legally". I had heard that the region where wireless
> operates was unregulated, but it was not clear to me that this would not
> also be true of interfering services, especially where I do not know with
> whom I am interfering in the first place and whether they are licensed or
> also operating in an unregulated fashion.
>
> A reference to such information would be appreciated, as would be
> information on other possible approaches either such as I suggested or
> otherwise.

this is country dependent - the fact that you have a 2.4 GHz phone means you
probably arent in the UK or Europe.
>
> I am already sorry I wasted a lot of money on the wireless technology,
> which worked at the time I bought it, but not too long thereafter. I
> guess there is significant value in regulation of such things which is
> missing in these cases and buying equipment from a reputable company such
> as Apple is of no value in this case.

before you write off the kit - have you tried altering channels and so on to
see if you can avoid whatever is interfering?

Alt, a directional antenna and the signal strength utils that often come
with wireless cards may help you define where the signals come from - once
you can show that the regulated service is the source, they may help -
certainly worth asking before you scrap your Airport gear. There are designs
for homemade antennas around if you dont want to throw more money at this
problem

if you have to change equipment, then 802.11a gear works in the 5GHz band,
which tends to be a lot "quieter" for interference (so far).
>
> Thanks,
>
> Ray Whitmer
--
Regards

Stephen Hope - remove xx from email to reply

Ray Whitmer <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<(E-Mail Removed)>...
> I am already sorry I wasted a lot of money on the wireless technology,
> which worked at the time I bought it, but not too long thereafter. I
> guess there is significant value in regulation of such things which is
> missing in these cases and buying equipment from a reputable company such
> as Apple is of no value in this case.

Don't be so quick to throw in the towel. It is true that unlicensed
services cannot interfere with and must accept interference from
licensed services. However, that does not by any means lead to an
inescapable conclusion that the interference you in particular are
experiencing is from a licensed service.

You're correct, though, in that name-brand equipment is no more immune
to interference than off-brand gear.

-Gabriel

Gabriel wrote:
> Don't be so quick to throw in the towel. It is true that unlicensed
> services cannot interfere with and must accept interference from
> licensed services. However, that does not by any means lead to an
> inescapable conclusion that the interference you in particular are
> experiencing is from a licensed service.

Yes, but since we must also accept interference from unlicensed services,
the net effect doesn't change.

--
John Miller
My email address: domain, n4vu.com; username, jsm

If you didn't have to work so hard, you'd have more time to be depressed.