On Mar 3, 2010, at 1:44 PM, Ashgrove wrote:
On Mar 3, 3:16 pm, Bruce Johnson <[email protected]> wrote:
I don't suppose there's any way to put it in the middle of the
apartment?
I'm afraid not. I have DSL, and the only phone jacks are in the living
room and the bedroom.
You can use a long ethernet cable between the DSL box and your WiFi
router, move it at least a little closer to the center of the place,
don't forget, radio signals obey the inverse square law, which means
your signal strength increases a lot the closer you get to the source.
And example: (using numbers plucked from thin air)
A 10' or 15' difference on a 40' run will make a large difference. At
40' the signal is 1/1600th the level it is at the source; at 30' it's
only 1/900th. That's almost a 2x gain in signal strength for 10' of
distance.
(note this is completely theoretical, with attenuation solely due to
distance, not taking into account the effects of walls, pipes, etc,
etc. It this distance lets you get a better line of sight to the
router you may see even better gains.
Line of Sight is NOT a restriction of WiFi, but if you can see the
router from where you're trying to use it, you can be reasonably
assured that you're going to get the best signal for your distance.
Things like metal corners in drywall and metal studs (as used in newer
construction), or worse metal-mesh-backed stucco, will have a major
effect on signal reception.)
I don't know what the limitations are on connecting DSL modems to the
phone jacks are, either, perhaps you could connect it with a longer
cable, too, but I know Cat5 ethernet is supposed to be rated for 100
meters.
If your apartment is longer than that, just hire some slaves to carry
your email back and forth, Mr. Trump ;-)
--
Bruce Johnson
University of Arizona
College of Pharmacy
Information Technology Group
Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs
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