Re: some WAP questions...

["Andy Laurence" <andy@xxxxxxx>]

Paul Gordon wrote:
> a colleague of mine was just complaining about wifi blindspots in
> certain parts of the house, and asking for advice...
>
> I suggested purchasing an uprated antenna, but couldn't for the life
> of me think of any of the sites to suggest, so my first question
> is.... :-)

Bear in mind that an antenna will not boost power, just change where the
signal is sent.  With an "omni-directional" antenna, the overall
distance
will increase in the horizontal lane, but decrease in the vertical plane.
Imagine a large beach ball, and the antenna in the middle.  A signal is
available inside the ball, and none outside.  As the gain on the antenna
goes up, the beach ball gets squashed vertically.  In practical terms, this
means sticking an 8db (for example) "omni-directional" antenna on
an access
point located in the centre of a house will boost the signal for any device
on the same floor, but reduce signal for devices on other floors.  This is
a
very simplistic view, but I hope you get the idea!

HTH,
Andy
--
http://ha.andylaurence.co.uk
http://projects.andylaurence.co.uk
http://www.bristolwireless.net



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