802.11b range

screwball

OK here is what im trying to figure out

there is a large factory by my house which towers about 4 stories above the surrounding community. on the roof there is an array of 802.11b anttenas (im assuming its B and not A cause B has larger range) there are 10 large anttenas, 5 on one side of the building and 5 on the other all arranged near the corner of the building. they are all pointed in the same direction. I am wondering how far could this possibly be transmitting?

J-Man

Hard to say just knowing they have a few antennas on the roof. They might be capable of going several miles, or they could have trouble going 40 feet. It depends on their transmitter strength and what materials (and topology) they are trying to transmit through.

The only way to know for sure is to either (1) call them on the phone and ask them, or (2) walk over to the building, go in and ask them. Ask for the Manager or Director of Information Technology.

damgo

Or if you have an 802.11b receiver card, you could walk around and find out for yourself -- most come with a utility to monitor signal strength, even if you can't log onto their network.

screwball

well it reaches me and im like a couple hundred feet away

i was just wondering what the max was on the access points that computer companies sell

cause it seems like its more than there capable of

i think there useing amps and what not, actual radio equip not just the regular junk they sell at compusa.

seems like they have more than your average buisness's wireless network. makes me courious thats all

J-Man

But then you run into the question, is this signal from that big building or from your next door neighbor? I guess if you move around enough you might be able to find out. Do many wifi transceivers allow you to change the frequency they use or are they hard-coded?

damgo

^^^ My 'site survey' utility lists the SSID (network name), channel #, and signal strength of all the networks around. So I can see both my network and my neighbor's... and incidentally see he/she was too dumb to bother encrypting or MAC-filtering it.

screwball

yeh thats usually the way it goes lol

J-Man

Heeheehee...
So you get to see all your neighbor's porn 'eh? [;)]