Wireless Internet FAQ

1. What can I reasonably expect from your Wireless Plan?

LAN and Internet connectivity without wires is a wonderful convenience, especially when one has a laptop computer and wishes to enjoy the full freedom of movement that these computers offer. With a little care in installation, one can expect reasonably good coverage as one moves about in a Lucas Valley home--however do not be surprised to find that in many parts of the house you will find the wireless path somewhat marginal, making it necessary to position your computer in an optimum location and perhaps even rotate it so that its antenna has an adequate orientation and, occasionally, that your own body does not occlude the signal path.

The frequencies used in "802.11b/g wireless networks" are between VHF/UHF radio and microwave bands. That means that signals can go around corners somewhat as they do with VHF, and that they are at the same time somewhat line-of-sight like microwave links. Therefore, while the wireless equipment that we provide is capable of going up to 1800 feet on an antenna range, the actual distances in a home with walls, furnishings, people, and appliances will be substantially less.

2. What is the biggest weakness of Wireless?

Wireless standards specify relatively low power levels (about 50 mW), and the antennas used tend to be optimized for portability rather than performance. For these reasons you should not expect a wireless system to perform perfectly everywhere in your home. Equally important, the frequency band allocated for wireless (2.4 - 2.483 GHz) is among the worst possible, a virtual dumping ground of unlicensed services including cordless telephones and microwave ovens, all of which can interfere with wireless communications. Add to this the possibility that a neighbor might also be using wireless. Problems caused by interference are especially frustrating because a connection may work well one minute and poorly the next, often without any clue as to the actual cause of interference, as the offending appliance turns on or off. Yet the designers have worked hard to overcome these obstacles by using redundancy, which allows damaged data to be recovered in many cases.

3. What can I do if I think I have an interference problem?

The wireless standard provides for 11 channels to which your system might be set. Actually, these channels overlap, and we recommend that you only use channels 1, 6, and 11--three channels that do not overlap each other. Also, if you have a neighbor who is also using wireless, you may want to get together and make sure that you are not using the same channels.

4. Why do you recommend avoiding wireless on desktop computers?

As mentioned above, wireless paths can get marginal at extreme distances. Laptop computers might still be useful in such areas by moving them into a location where coverage is satisfactory. Desktop computers, on the other hand, are far less flexible. While moving them slightly might cure a problem with a poor signal path, this is often difficult to do on account of their size, weight, and the constraints placed by other furnishings in the room. If one must use wireless in these cases, it is often best to position the desktop first and then move the access point for an optimum signal path. But even when one does this, a sheet of rainwater on the roof can change the signal paths in a home, resulting in occasional intervals of poor performance. For this reason, we recommend hard wiring desktops, and using wireless only for laptop and notebook computers.

5. What about the possibility of neighbors being able to log into my network?

Radio waves are capricious. They do not honor property lines, walls, and fences. One may struggle to get a useful path between two places in a home, yet have an excellent path to a room in a neighbor's home. Our Wireless plan provides several protections against the possibility of unauthorized wireless access. The first is the use of DSSS, a "spread spectrum" technology that spreads the information over a fairly wide band. Secondly, Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) data encryption is available, allowing only the computers using the encryption key to access data (it is very important that you enable this feature by entering a WEP key). Finally, we have selected an access point that includes "MAC address filtering," a technique that rejects all computers except those that you specifically specify by their unique MAC address.

6. How big is a wireless antenna?

Some of the new laptops have wireless capability built-in, along with antennas hidden behind the display area. The antenna on others is built into the wireless adapter cards and project about an inch outside the case.

7. How fast is wireless?

The wireless standard allows data rates from 1 to 11 Mbps, and more with the 802.11g standard. Lowering the data rate is one tool to mitigate a poor signal path, and you can also set your computer to set the rate automatically.

When you compare these rates with those of your broadband service (.256 to 2.56 Mbps, depending on your plan), they seem high. But if you compare them to a wired configuration (10 or 100 Mbps) they are slow. You will probably not notice the reduced data rates of wireless while browsing the Internet, but you may if you are sharing large files on your local area network.

8. Can I have more than one access point?

Yes, provided that you avoid overlapping radio channels. Configure each access point for a different channel--but use only channels 0, 6, and 11 because these channels do not overlap. You will probably need to manually command your computer to re-scan in the event that it locks onto the weaker signal.