Maybe, but until IDF
released these freqs, so that civilians could use them for BT, they
were not allowed. Today the 900Mhz phones are legal as well, and are
being sold, as far as I know, by Bezeq themselves, as part of their
digital phones.
802.11a/b/g have
limitations, both regarding freqs, and power, and they are being kept
(the home user has no need to know that x and y channels are blocked,
but in order to import these devices to IL, you need to block them,
unless you're trying to pirately bring them).
Anyhow, if Cellcom
sells these dongles, they are ok. They're the last to rist illegal
radio-related actions.
Ez.
On Sun, Jul 17, 2005 at 12:38:03PM +0300, Shlomo Solomon wrote:
Thanks for your reply, but now I'm confused. What are all the dongles being
sold in stores? I realize that there may be some stores selling these things
illegally, as you say. But I doubt that large chains like BUG and Office
Depot would sell illegal devices. Also, a quick search on ZAP shows 133
devices available. Are they all illegal?
Some may be. For example 900mHz phones are illegal to own, import or
use in Israel. Someone gave me a very nice GE one that had a dead battery.
I was going to toss it until I noticed it had a sticker from a large
importer of cordless phones in Talpiot on it. I figure if I ever get
caught, I'll just point to the sitcker and play stupid.
Another case I know of is some 430mHz handheld ham radios that were
imported and sold by a company in the center of the country. They were
sold via newspaper ads claiming them to be 10,000 channel CB walkie-talkies.
Eventualy hams complained and the ministry of communicatons closed them down.
However they were not required to contact the buyers and get the radios
back if they were not licensed. POSSESSOION of the radios without a license
is illegal, but no one seemed to really care.
WiFi is in a similar state. By law you are limited to channels 4-8 (of 1-14)
and 100mW RADIATED power. That means if you have an antenna that increases
the signal by being more effiecient you must reduce the power of the
transmitter an equal amount or use a long feedline that looses some of the
signal. Yet I have never seen any ads that mentioned this when they
sell gain antennas or any notes included with WiFi cards or hubs,
except from 3COM that mention the channel limitation.
Bluetooth and WiFi are different from the others in someways. The
frequencies that are in the forbidden channels are used heavily by the
IDF. 100mW signal will probably not interfere with their much more
powerfull equipment but if it does expect a not very friendly visit from
the IDF. I often find that IDF air to ground radar wipes out my WiFi
network. :-)
BTW - some of the dongles on ZAP claim to have 100 meter range. What's that
all about?
100 meter range. In labratory conditions. But then there was the time
my Orange cell phone tried to roam onto a Lebanese network. It had
detected the signal and decided it was stronger than Orange's.
I was on a bus on the Jerusalem Tel-Aviv highway at the time.
OK - that I know. But with such a short range, I don't see a real security
problem using one to sync my PALM in my home. After all, if the range is only
3 meters, the potential hacker would have to be in the same room as me. And,
of course, I'd remove the dongle when not in use ;-)
Sure, but wouldn't a USB cable be a better bet? A lot cheaper, no radiation,
no signal to jam (2.4gHz cordless phones are notorious for this), no
network to hack, etc.
Geoff.
