6.1 Hacks #80-85
The
stated average
range of a piece
of consumer 802.11b equipment is 300 to 1,500 feet. Of course, this
estimate is what is printed on the side of the box, and the number is
chosen to be somewhere between actual technical constraints and the
marketing department's agenda—and should
therefore be taken with the standard issue grain of salt. What the
side of the box doesn't tell you is that radio range
isn't something "built
into" a product, but is in fact the same for all
wireless devices: potentially infinite, but bounded by transmitter
power, antenna gain, clean line of sight, and relative noise in the
environment.
While the intended range might just be a couple of hundred feet,
wireless aficionados everywhere have proven that it is possible to
use the 802.11 family of devices to build reliable data links of 10
miles or more. The hacks in this chapter expose some of the important
details you need to keep in mind, as well as techniques you can use
to make your long distance projects possible.
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