Talk:Wi-Fi Alliance

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

whats range for wi-fi.???? and does it uses radio waves???

This question is perhaps best put in the Answers pages here. But, nonetheless, some comment. Range depends on quite a few things, including the emitted power of the WiFi circuits (there is a regulatory maximum in all locations -- though it's not quite the same maximum everywhere), the directionality of the antennas used, the losses imposed on the signal by obstructions in direct line of sight and indirectly in the Fresnel zone, air temperature, humidity, etc. The maximum possible under the least interference with the strongest signal output is several miles. In practice, with the common omnidirectional antennas (eg, the rubber ducky ones), the maximum distance is a couple of hundred feet. Note that, as signal strength is reduced, WiFi units backoff on the modulations used and so reduce the data rate. In general, the data rate at max range (and minimum signal strength) will be low.

WiFi does use radio signals. 802.11a in the 5GHz range and 802.11 b/g/n in the 2.4GHz range. The latter are close in frequency to that us4d by microwave ovens. Note that the modulations used are far more complex than AM radio, FM radio, or shorwave radio. WiFi signals can't be meaningfully decoded by ordinary radios, including scanners and such. ww 04:47, 8 September 2006 (UTC)