[wplug] Wi-Fi Mapping in the Press

paris lundis plundis at areaindex.com
Mon Feb 21 16:14:19 EST 2005


Wireless anything works fine for last mile connectivity. I use it in 
this way and have for over the past 2 years.

I currently get a T1 worth of bandwidth to the internet via 5.8Ghz 
gear.  Ping times are say 2ms to my connection point up 400 feet or so 
and across my valley. About 9ms out to the internet connection point.
about one and a half miles.

I push the bandwidth all day with data coming and in going out. About 
50% capacity 24/7 and 90% capacity during key peak times (11AM-11PM).

Wireless of any sort operates optimally only with access in the air and 
up higher (like rooftops to tower).

Running wireless of any variety say 50ft off the ground on your roof 
isn't going to get you very far. Maybe a block or so.  At tens of feet 
you have ample obstructions such as other buildings, trees, etc. Get the 
gear up double or better the height of the tallest thing around you and 
suddenly wireless is a whole different animal.

I've thrown signal in testing 1-3 miles with 2.4Ghz gear with 
directional high gain antennas.  At the other end ping times were low 
and the signal remains solid enough for any type of use.

-paris

Bill Moran wrote:

>"Drew from Zhrodague" <drew at zhrodague.net> wrote:
>
>  
>
>>    One of the fascinating things about Wi-Fi, is that it can be used for
>>last-mile connections -- imagine not having to pay Verizon anything to get
>>net piped-in -- and no monthly charges. I am dumbfounded by the continued
>>existance of dialup, absolutely stupified!
>>    
>>
>
>Have you ever actually done this?
>
>Wifi is horribly unreliable for last-mile connections.  Latency is wildly
>variable and unpredictabe, packet loss is high ... it just sucks.  I've
>got multiple experiences with this to prove it.
>
>Sure it looks good on paper, and it works OK when it's just your laptop
>and the AP is just on the other side of the room.  But when you want to
>run a wifi connection over a half mile distance, there are a LOT of
>factors that make the reliability of the service unpredictable, and
>usually very low.  And even when the service is reliable, performance
>usually bites.  Try to run a business with 10+ computers over a wifi
>and see how much it sucks.  Hopefully, it will get better with time.
>
>  
>
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