Wi-Fi Ranges

So, I was at the local sandwich shop last night, and I noticed I was able to
pick up a signal from a local T-Mobile hotspot, which I have an account
with. It was only one bar out of five. But I was able to connect to it and
surf the web without any problems.

I then looked up the hotspots in the area, and I saw that the closest one
was a Fed-Ex/Kinkos about 2-3 blocks away. Measuring it on the map, I
estimate it to be at least 800 feet from where I was.

Is that normal for wi-fi routers to have such a large range? That seems a
bit far to be picking up a wi-fi signal. The router was a little uphill from
me, though not a very steep hill.

Thanks,

Neil

Neil wrote:
> Is that normal for wi-fi routers to have such a large range? That seems a
> bit far to be picking up a wi-fi signal. The router was a little uphill from
> me, though not a very steep hill.

For those type of deployments, they set it up it work within the
building. So it will likely get out into the parking lot also.
That's all the need to care about.

Will it go farther? Sure. Will it be a reliable link? Most likely
not. I installed a Linksys WRT54G and it was usable over a thousand
feet away which surprised me.

A true case of "You mileage, err...footage may very".

"Neil" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:wKvaj.393$6%.(E-Mail Removed)...
> So, I was at the local sandwich shop last night, and I noticed I was able
> to pick up a signal from a local T-Mobile hotspot, which I have an account
> with. It was only one bar out of five. But I was able to connect to it and
> surf the web without any problems.
>
> I then looked up the hotspots in the area, and I saw that the closest one
> was a Fed-Ex/Kinkos about 2-3 blocks away. Measuring it on the map, I
> estimate it to be at least 800 feet from where I was.
>
> Is that normal for wi-fi routers to have such a large range? That seems a
> bit far to be picking up a wi-fi signal. The router was a little uphill
> from me, though not a very steep hill.
>
Doing testing with a couple of Cisco APs and high gain omnidirectional
aerials we've had them working over several hundred meters , and even
further with directional ones but that's on open ground. In a built up
environment it's unusal to get anywhere near that.

It's possible there was another hot spot not shown on your map



--
Alex

New laptop - Sig missing

No, the chances of there being another hotspot are very slim, as there's
only a few types of business that have T-Mobile (Starbucks, Kinkos, some
hotels and airports -- that's about it). This wasn't a random hotspot. It
was a T-Mobile hotspot, and there are only a discreet set of them.

As for open ground, though, the place where I was down the street (to the
south) and a little west of where the hotspot was. In between (the northwest
corner of the intersection where I was at) was open. Thus, between me and
the hotspot, there were no buildings. I'm sure that was it.



"Dr Zoidberg" <AlexNOOOO!!!!!!@drzoidberg.co.uk> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> "Neil" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:wKvaj.393$6%.(E-Mail Removed)...
>> So, I was at the local sandwich shop last night, and I noticed I was able
>> to pick up a signal from a local T-Mobile hotspot, which I have an
>> account with. It was only one bar out of five. But I was able to connect
>> to it and surf the web without any problems.
>>
>> I then looked up the hotspots in the area, and I saw that the closest one
>> was a Fed-Ex/Kinkos about 2-3 blocks away. Measuring it on the map, I
>> estimate it to be at least 800 feet from where I was.
>>
>> Is that normal for wi-fi routers to have such a large range? That seems a
>> bit far to be picking up a wi-fi signal. The router was a little uphill
>> from me, though not a very steep hill.
>>
> Doing testing with a couple of Cisco APs and high gain omnidirectional
> aerials we've had them working over several hundred meters , and even
> further with directional ones but that's on open ground. In a built up
> environment it's unusal to get anywhere near that.
>
> It's possible there was another hot spot not shown on your map
>
>
>
> --
> Alex
>
> New laptop - Sig missing

Neil wrote: *** and top-posted. Fixed ***
> "Dr Zoidberg" <AlexNOOOO!!!!!!@drzoidberg.co.uk> wrote
>> "Neil" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>
>>> So, I was at the local sandwich shop last night, and I noticed
>>> I was able to pick up a signal from a local T-Mobile hotspot,
>>> which I have an account with. It was only one bar out of five.
>>> But I was able to connect to it and surf the web without any
>>> problems.
>>>
>>> I then looked up the hotspots in the area, and I saw that the
>>> closest one was a Fed-Ex/Kinkos about 2-3 blocks away.
>>> Measuring it on the map, I estimate it to be at least 800 feet
>>> from where I was.
>>>
>>> Is that normal for wi-fi routers to have such a large range?
>>> That seems a bit far to be picking up a wi-fi signal. The
>>> router was a little uphill from me, though not a very steep
>>> hill.
>>
>> Doing testing with a couple of Cisco APs and high gain
>> omnidirectional aerials we've had them working over several
>> hundred meters , and even further with directional ones but
>> that's on open ground. In a built up environment it's unusal
>> to get anywhere near that.
>>
>> It's possible there was another hot spot not shown on your
>> map
>
> No, the chances of there being another hotspot are very slim,
> as there's only a few types of business that have T-Mobile
> (Starbucks, Kinkos, some hotels and airports -- that's about
> it). This wasn't a random hotspot. It was a T-Mobile hotspot,
> and there are only a discreet set of them.
>
> As for open ground, though, the place where I was down the
> street (to the south) and a little west of where the hotspot
> was. In between (the northwest corner of the intersection
> where I was at) was open. Thus, between me and the hotspot,
> there were no buildings. I'm sure that was it.

Please do not top-post. Your answer belongs after (or intermixed
with) the quoted material to which you reply, after snipping all
irrelevant material. I fixed this one. See the following links:

--
<http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html>
<http://www.caliburn.nl/topposting.html>
<http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html>
<http://cfaj.freeshell.org/google/> (taming google)
<http://members.fortunecity.com/nnqweb/> (newusers)



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Somewhere on teh intarweb "Dr Zoidberg" typed:

<snip>

> Doing testing with a couple of Cisco APs and high gain omnidirectional
> aerials we've had them working over several hundred meters , and even
> further with directional ones but that's on open ground. In a built up
> environment it's unusal to get anywhere near that.

The world record for unamplified WiFi using off-the-shelf Linksys APs and
very large omnidirectional antennas is, I believe, over 280 kms.
--
TTFN,

Shaun.

"another academic failure.... trying to prove that your smart"
'blanking', nz.comp, 20 Dec 2007.

In news:(E-Mail Removed),
~misfit~ typed on Fri, 21 Dec 2007 14:38:41 +1300:
> Somewhere on teh intarweb "Dr Zoidberg" typed:
>
> <snip>
>
>> Doing testing with a couple of Cisco APs and high gain
>> omnidirectional aerials we've had them working over several hundred
>> meters , and even further with directional ones but that's on open
>> ground. In a built up environment it's unusal to get anywhere near
>> that.
>
> The world record for unamplified WiFi using off-the-shelf Linksys APs
> and very large omnidirectional antennas is, I believe, over 280 kms.

The record using a home made directional antenna at a hackers convention
in Las Vegas a couple of years ago was 51 miles. Although I never
learned if they were on top of a mountain or not. I bet they were.

--
Bill

In <476b3134$0$1348$(E-Mail Removed) m> "BillW50" <(E-Mail Removed)> writes:

>The record using a home made directional antenna at a hackers convention
>in Las Vegas a couple of years ago was 51 miles. Although I never
>learned if they were on top of a mountain or not. I bet they were.

details: http://www.wifiworldrecord.com/



--
__________________________________________________ ___
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
(E-Mail Removed)
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

I don't understand. What do you mean??....

"CBFalconer" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Neil wrote: *** and top-posted. Fixed ***
>> "Dr Zoidberg" <AlexNOOOO!!!!!!@drzoidberg.co.uk> wrote
>>> "Neil" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>>
>>>> So, I was at the local sandwich shop last night, and I noticed
>>>> I was able to pick up a signal from a local T-Mobile hotspot,
>>>> which I have an account with. It was only one bar out of five.
>>>> But I was able to connect to it and surf the web without any
>>>> problems.
>>>>
>>>> I then looked up the hotspots in the area, and I saw that the
>>>> closest one was a Fed-Ex/Kinkos about 2-3 blocks away.
>>>> Measuring it on the map, I estimate it to be at least 800 feet
>>>> from where I was.
>>>>
>>>> Is that normal for wi-fi routers to have such a large range?
>>>> That seems a bit far to be picking up a wi-fi signal. The
>>>> router was a little uphill from me, though not a very steep
>>>> hill.
>>>
>>> Doing testing with a couple of Cisco APs and high gain
>>> omnidirectional aerials we've had them working over several
>>> hundred meters , and even further with directional ones but
>>> that's on open ground. In a built up environment it's unusal
>>> to get anywhere near that.
>>>
>>> It's possible there was another hot spot not shown on your
>>> map
>>
>> No, the chances of there being another hotspot are very slim,
>> as there's only a few types of business that have T-Mobile
>> (Starbucks, Kinkos, some hotels and airports -- that's about
>> it). This wasn't a random hotspot. It was a T-Mobile hotspot,
>> and there are only a discreet set of them.
>>
>> As for open ground, though, the place where I was down the
>> street (to the south) and a little west of where the hotspot
>> was. In between (the northwest corner of the intersection
>> where I was at) was open. Thus, between me and the hotspot,
>> there were no buildings. I'm sure that was it.
>
> Please do not top-post. Your answer belongs after (or intermixed
> with) the quoted material to which you reply, after snipping all
> irrelevant material. I fixed this one. See the following links:
>
> --
> <http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html>
> <http://www.caliburn.nl/topposting.html>
> <http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html>
> <http://cfaj.freeshell.org/google/> (taming google)
> <http://members.fortunecity.com/nnqweb/> (newusers)
>
>
>
> --
> Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
>

That's cool. But I doubt the local kinko's had any sophisticated antennae.
Still, I think the fact that there were no buildings between us and there
was a little downhill helped. I think the fact that there was a slight
breeze from the direction of the Kinko's to where I was helped as well.*

Neil
*Before someone jumps in here: yes, that was a joke.


"~misfit~" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
messagenews:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Somewhere on teh intarweb "Dr Zoidberg" typed:
>
> <snip>
>
>> Doing testing with a couple of Cisco APs and high gain omnidirectional
>> aerials we've had them working over several hundred meters , and even
>> further with directional ones but that's on open ground. In a built up
>> environment it's unusal to get anywhere near that.
>
> The world record for unamplified WiFi using off-the-shelf Linksys APs and
> very large omnidirectional antennas is, I believe, over 280 kms.
> --
> TTFN,
>
> Shaun.
>
> "another academic failure.... trying to prove that your smart"
> 'blanking', nz.comp, 20 Dec 2007.
>