[olug] Max range on WAPs

[Obi-Wan]

I should have just listened to my realtor:  location, location, location.

Monday night, I relocated the old G WAP from the middle of the basement
to a shelf in front of a picture window in the walk-out wall that faces
Grandma's house.  I connected to it from a few feet away and then started
walking toward Grandma's.  I stopped when I hit the far end of the
pasture -- twice as far from the WAP as her house is (nearly 1/4 mile),
and obscured from the WAP by her house and some mature trees.  I still
had good signal (>50%) at that point and could web browse just fine.

Back inside Grandma's house, I had good signal, but when I disconnected
& tried to reconnect, it wouldn't.  I had to carry my laptop (SUSE Linux
with internal wireless G) back to Mom's house to reconnect.

I grabbed Mom's new Win7 laptop with internal wireless N, took it
inside Grandma's house, and it dis/reconnected just fine.  Perhaps
the MIMO antennas help even when in G mode?  After returning, I was
able to get my laptop to connect out on Grandma's driveway.

Anyway, it looks like I'm in good shape now without having to buy
any new equipment.  If this proves to be flaky for them, I may break
down & buy a generic N router and put it in the same location, since
N is reputed to have double the range of G.

-- 
Ben "Obi-Wan" Hollingsworth                             obiwan at jedi.com
   The stuff of earth competes for the allegiance I owe only to the
     Giver of all good things, so if I stand, let me stand on the
       promise that You will pull me through.  -- Rich Mullins