[geeks] 802.11

[Eric Gregory]

Hells yeah you'll get more than 50 feet.  I've got a Proxim 802.11b AP sitting
in my computer room and I can get damn near a block away.  With the AP near a
window and a few trees and a large brick building  between me and where I want
to go, I can get about 700 feet away, it seems to multipath decently...  

Just as a reference, the ISP/datacenter(dump)/webhost I used to help run we
were starting wireless internet access and the owner initially wanted to use
802.11b for everything but the backhaul (finally persuaded him to use alvarion
for residential and western multiplex tsunami for business).  Anyway, with a
Proxim AP, similar to the one I have with a 19dB flat panel sector antenna
high up on a building/mast we were able to get about 1.5 miles out of it. 
Granted, that was perfect line of sight, but still, that's a hell of a way. 
At that range, it's punch through capability was nil, but it was still kinda
cool that it made it that far while still pulling about 2 mbits.  Got better
when we put a DC Injector amplifier on it, but that made it out and out
illegal, from an FCC standpoint.  Great signal strength, but the fines
would've sucked...  Not to mention having nesting birds laying fried eggs ;-)

802.11a on the other hand, while fast and more secure (if that word can even
be used with consumer grade wireless) is kinda nice, its range isn't anywhere
near as good as 802.11b.  Higher frequency = less range.