- Aug 9, 2000
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Just spent the day playing with a new Linksys Wireless Access Point and PC Card for a notebook.
I can say that when the critics say one must maintain LOS (line of sight) they mean it. I can't go from this side of the house where the access point is located to the garage without losing all signal. If I stand between my notebook and the access point signal strength goes down 30 percent.
Even if I stand right next to the access point signal strength is only at 80 percent!
Just as a trial, I mounted the access point on the side of a house window, and while maintaining clear LOS I walked away from the house through the field. I couldn't walk more than a few house lengths away without losing all connection. This is best case situation too (holding the notebook just so above one's head, if one held it where you could actually use it, it lost a lot of signal strength).
My theory: interference. Even without the notebook on, the activity light on my access point flickers dimly (tried changing channels but no luck). There are a lot of com towers around here and I bet at least one of them is operating on the same frequency.
EDIT: Thread for tweaking power output: http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=36&threadid=672845
I can say that when the critics say one must maintain LOS (line of sight) they mean it. I can't go from this side of the house where the access point is located to the garage without losing all signal. If I stand between my notebook and the access point signal strength goes down 30 percent.
Even if I stand right next to the access point signal strength is only at 80 percent!
Just as a trial, I mounted the access point on the side of a house window, and while maintaining clear LOS I walked away from the house through the field. I couldn't walk more than a few house lengths away without losing all connection. This is best case situation too (holding the notebook just so above one's head, if one held it where you could actually use it, it lost a lot of signal strength).
My theory: interference. Even without the notebook on, the activity light on my access point flickers dimly (tried changing channels but no luck). There are a lot of com towers around here and I bet at least one of them is operating on the same frequency.
EDIT: Thread for tweaking power output: http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=36&threadid=672845