I seem to recall Pete was having problems with his setup. Did you get decent coverage in the end Pete?

I may be moving from ISDN (Home Highway) to ADSL and I see that here in the UK Solwise have reduced the price for a combined ADSL modem/router/hub which includes a WiFi port. If I combine this with a laptop equiped with WiFi then perhaps I can do my forum surfing from down with the family instead of up in my FS den

The path from Home Highway is not an easy one:
1. pay BT about £30 to disable and/or remove the Home Highway (necessary so that the line can be tested for suitability for ADSL),
2. buy and install ADSL modem and await activation
or 3. pay BT £? to reconnect HH if the line test fails

Lots of possibilities of long periods without any service and/or expense for unusable equipment. Anyone here done it?

And all this just so I can download more scenery, planes, AI etc. etc. It never ends!

• RE: ADSL and WiFi anyone?,PeteDowson, 18:45z, 07-10-02
• RE: ADSL and WiFi anyone?,Mike_Greenwood, 03:21z, 07-11-02
  • RE: ADSL and WiFi anyone?,brynjames, 15:03z, 07-11-02
    • RE: ADSL and WiFi anyone?,brynjames, 15:30z, 07-12-02
  • RE: ADSL and WiFi anyone?,AlanParkinson, 20:46z, 07-11-02
    • RE: ADSL and WiFi anyone?,Mike_Greenwood, 22:51z, 07-11-02

Hi Bryn,

> I seem to recall Pete was having problems with his setup. Did you get
> decent coverage in the end Pete?

I never got any form of wireless ethernet connection working more than one room away. I didn't go to the extent of wiring additional base units all over the place. That seems pointless. If I have to do that I may as well put ethernet sockets everywhere and get the full 100 Mbits performance not the daft slow rates offered by WifFi etc.

The range they quote for these transmitter/receiver efforts assumes no obstructions, or puny partition walls only. I live in an old house with real bricks. More than one such layer of real bricks and the signals are dead. Caput. Not just "reduced" as they promise, but gone and forgotten!

I've tried two different systems, got my money back on both, and I've decided I want no more to do with it. All the bumff and blurb is enticing but very very misleading.

Can you tell I'm disgruntled? I *really* wanted to be able to use my Notebook with ethernet connection out on my patio, or even in my living room! Pah!

> I may be moving from ISDN (Home Highway) to ADSL and I see that here in
> the UK Solwise have reduced the price for a combined ADSL
> modem/router/hub which includes a WiFi port. If I combine this with a
> laptop equiped with WiFi then perhaps I can do my forum surfing from
> down with the family instead of up in my FS den

If your base station is upstairs and your walls and floors aren't too thick then it may work fine. My arrangement was the other way -- all my kit is in my office on the ground floor.

I checked about upgrading from ISDN to ADSL and BT wanted £100 just to REMOVE my ISDN, which I would have to have done first, before I could convert to ADSL.

Since 99% of the time I can't even get the full capacity of an ISDN utilised (slow or overloaded servers, mainly, I think) I see no point in changing now, especially at such an extra premium.

> The path from Home Highway is not an easy one:
> 1. pay BT about £30 to disable and/or remove the Home Highway (necessary
> so that the line can be tested for suitability for ADSL),

Only £30 for you? The difference must be because I'm classified as a business user. (The line is the one registered to my business, carried out at home of course).

> And all this just so I can download more scenery, planes, AI etc. etc.
> It never ends!

Now I'm on "surfnet" and pay an extra £20.00 per month (half each to BT and Demon) for "free" 24/7 access, it doesn't really bother me how long it takes to download stuff, so ADSL can go and ... <G>

Good luck if you do go ahead! Let us know how you get on, especially with the WiFi business!

Best regards,

Pete

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Hi Bryn,

I think the UK problem may be a different alloted frequency for use with wifi. Here in the states it's on the 2.4Ghz range using a technology called DSS (direct spread spectrum...I think). The UK may use a different frequency, I'm not sure. I agree with Pete that the stated ranges are grossly overexaggerated in any event.

My house is a single story wood-framed structure with a stucco exterior (and wire lath) with a drywall interior. I generally have no problems getting at least a "low" signal from anywhere on my property. My office setup is quite different though. It's a two story concrete structure with a 4" concrete slab separating the floors. The total footprint of the building is approx 3500 square feet, and the router/access point is located on the upper floor at one end of the building. The folks on the lower floor at the other end of the building seem to have no problems with access. So...I can't figure it out other than surmising that a different frequency is affecting the range. I can't imagine that a brick structure is more radio opaque than a steel reenforced concrete structure. But then again, I'm not an engineer <g>.

Unfortunately, Pete had a bad experience, but I still stand by my statements that wireless is the *only* way to surf (if you can get it to work <g>). Perhaps the newer (red: more expensive) 802.11a will be the solution for reception problems...who knows.

Good luck with your setup, and give me a shout if you need a hand.

--Greenie
**6 miles SSE KSJC**

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Thanks, Greenie. As far as I recall we also use the 2.4GHz band here. Predictions of how much coverage you can get in buildings is always difficult, and recent history is full of failed devices which never met their coverage targets!

I'll have to try to find someone who will lend me one to try in my brick built house.

I just found an interesting review of a wireless system on guru3d. The page below shows range measurements and in particular areas of no service within the reviewers house:

http://www.guru3d.com/review/unex/wireless/index10.shtml

Hi Mike,

> I think the UK problem may be a different alloted frequency for use with
> wifi. Here in the states it's on the 2.4Ghz range using a technology
> called DSS (direct spread spectrum...I think). The UK may use a
> different frequency, I'm not sure. I agree with Pete that the stated
> ranges are grossly overexaggerated in any event.

Good theory, but I'm not sure how accurate it might be. One of our customers with a home in Ireland, recently got an apartment in Manhattan. Naturally, he took with him some of his computer network for use over there - the portable and other bits and pieces, linked by wireless LAN. When he set it all up, he saw there were several other accessible wireless networks within range in the building. Although he didn't have access rights to get at their data, he discovered after a week that he had been connecting to the internet through someone else's ADSL connection. Clearly, in this case, the frequencies were entirely compatible.

> ... that wireless is the *only* way to surf (if you can get it to
> work <g>).

Can't argue with that when your neighbour pays the bill, but after hearing this, I'd be terrified about security and confidentiality.

Alan

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>>When he set it all up, he saw there were several other
accessible wireless networks within range in the building. <<

Well, that blows that theory right to hell doesn't it? <g>

>>Can't argue with that when your neighbour pays the bill,<<

LOL! That's for sure.

>>but after hearing this, I'd be terrified about security and confidentiality.<<

No doubt. That's mainly because the wireless devices have the wep encryption off by default, and most folks never stray from the default settings. I have enabled wep encryption for security. While it doesn't hide the network, it'd take someone a looong time parked outside of my house to try to break in...that is if the signal reaches the street (never tried) <g>.

--Greenie
**6 miles SSE KSJC**

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