Wireless Signal Strength

[TechZ]

I just wanted to know why the Wireless AP's and Routers that are being built dont have an adjustment so that we can really turn up the power of the signal, i.e. the mW. Wouldnt that really help? And isnt it time to move to the 5ghz frequency so that we dont have so much interferance.



PS. NooNoo i dont know if this belongs in teh Tech lounge

[NooNoo]

It belongs in the tech lounge - unfortunately because you haven't really asked a sensible question or done any research for yourself.

The output of any radio device is governed by a number of things, not least of all it's ability to interfere with other radio devices.

I am not sure if Bahrain just accepts the fcc recommendations or your government has their own policy, but these things are strictly controlled.

802.11a (5ghz) has been around for a while now. the ieee control the standards
an article about the difference between a and b

[TechZ]

I had done some research NooNoo, but I was wondering about the output, many of the manufacturers dont rate the output properly on their products (in terms of mW) and this makes it diffucult to compare them.

Bahrain has some tight controls on the stuff but always take FCC regs into account.

[NooNoo]

Have you checked the technical specifications and the associated white papers on the ones you did not find a mw output for?

[TechZ]

Looking into it NooNoo Ma'am.

[Rockafella]

If you really want to turn the power up on your router then just get a high gain omni directional antenna. like a 15-25db. That will really put you on the map

[Shalafi]

If you really want to turn the power up on your router then just get a high gain omni directional antenna. like a 15-25db. That will really put you on the map

Indeed. RF energy is really no different than visible light in many ways. Think of a light bulb just hanging on a cord. This would be a plain ol' omni directional antenna, throwing little photons in every direction with (relatively) equal density. If you throw a reflector on one side of it (directional antenna) then you have just effectively doubled (for simplicity's sake) the signal output, or raised it by 3dB. This is the basic principle behind a parabolic/hyperparabolic satellite dish, and coincidentally, a flashlight.

This concept is known as passive gain. There are other neat-o little tricks you can use to passively increase gain on things, especially when in a total vacuum, but thats another discussion altogether.

As cheap as wifi APs and special antennas are now, one can build a very effective network for a very low cost with a little creative planning.

One final thing.. The power output isnt always the defining factor in range for these devices. Other things like a good LNA (low noise amplifier) circuit have a huge impact on this as well (other things too obviously). If you want a good fairly solid line of wifi 'stuff', look towards D-link. In every review Ive seen in the last year or two, they always have the longest effective ranges, and usually have a lower power output than their competition. We use them here in a manufacturing environment, and theyre actually pretty stable most of the time (to my surprise). Every few months I will have to reset one, but its really not a big deal. They arent the most robust devices out there, but do have alot of pretty advanced features for the money. I wouldnt rave about their support, but as inexpensive as the units are, I typically just buy a new unit if one goes wacky.

Shal