Sunday, October 08, 2006
Wireless Woes
A Listener was speaking to me about wireless networking the other day and how much trouble she was having utilizing her network. They had gone wireless to allow their kids and other members of the family to use the internet around the house but the investment of 450 dollars worth of wireless equipment was almost down the drain.
The network would work ok for about 4 to five minutes then it would fail completely. So what could be causing it? Was it faulty equipment? Well I didn’t think so, however, I have had some experience with RF (radio frequency) interference. I went looking for devices in the house that use wireless communications.
Most wireless communications works on the 2.4 gigahertz and looking for devices in the house that might also be using this spectrum might well be a worth while exercise. On investigation we locate no more than 3 devices.
• . Cheap alarm system – that uses the 2.4ghz frequency spectrum to communicate between its sensor devices. This alarm system is basically crap because it would cause interference to the wireless network, secondly all the wireless devices require their own independent power supply so batteries are going to cost you a mint.
• 5 station cordless phone – the family used this rather than having cables installed in the house with extra outlets, whilst this is a highly advanced unit and very good at what it does it tends to interfere with the wireless networking.
• Cordless Video Sender – because they had a paytv set in the house the family wanted thr abilities to share it across the house so they purchased a couple of video senders that transmit it to tv is the house. However, they recon this never worked after they got the telephones.
All of these items will interfere with the wireless networking. Whilst you can adjust the routers channel settings to use a specific channel on the 2.4ghz spectrum it often has no effect in resolving the issues.
Well this family has a decision to make, sell off the wireless gear on ebay and cut their losses or sell off the telephone system and upgrade the alarm system. Either way they have lost money. This highlights you need to do research before going wireless.
The network would work ok for about 4 to five minutes then it would fail completely. So what could be causing it? Was it faulty equipment? Well I didn’t think so, however, I have had some experience with RF (radio frequency) interference. I went looking for devices in the house that use wireless communications.
Most wireless communications works on the 2.4 gigahertz and looking for devices in the house that might also be using this spectrum might well be a worth while exercise. On investigation we locate no more than 3 devices.
• . Cheap alarm system – that uses the 2.4ghz frequency spectrum to communicate between its sensor devices. This alarm system is basically crap because it would cause interference to the wireless network, secondly all the wireless devices require their own independent power supply so batteries are going to cost you a mint.
• 5 station cordless phone – the family used this rather than having cables installed in the house with extra outlets, whilst this is a highly advanced unit and very good at what it does it tends to interfere with the wireless networking.
• Cordless Video Sender – because they had a paytv set in the house the family wanted thr abilities to share it across the house so they purchased a couple of video senders that transmit it to tv is the house. However, they recon this never worked after they got the telephones.
All of these items will interfere with the wireless networking. Whilst you can adjust the routers channel settings to use a specific channel on the 2.4ghz spectrum it often has no effect in resolving the issues.
Well this family has a decision to make, sell off the wireless gear on ebay and cut their losses or sell off the telephone system and upgrade the alarm system. Either way they have lost money. This highlights you need to do research before going wireless.
# posted by Peter Saville - IT Consultant @ 7:30 pm 
