Hi

[Jon Knight]

On Fri, 27 Jul 2001, Benoit Tanguay wrote:
> Did the system of the wireless network can cover a large distance like 
> 50 km of distance?  Because some people here are very far of the 
> others.. Can the speed be more then 2 mpbs.. like 10mpbs... or 100mbps? 

You can get wireless gear that will go long distances with high bandwidths
but its not the consumer grade 802.11b stuff that folks on this list play
with.  For example we've got a microwave link to a site about 30 miles
from us that delivers 155Mbps ATM (which is a bit of a pity as we've
otherwise managed to rid ourselves of the curse of ATM) but it costs a
fortune to both install and maintain and even it needs repeater stations
along the path (which is partly why it is so expensive).  Not the sort of
thing for hobbyists (or even small companies) to play with.

So in my experience with the 802.11b stuff that is currently cheaply
available the most you'll get from a long range link is an effective
throughput of upto 5Mbps (usually less) and a range upto 2 or 3 miles
,depending on the antennas you have and whether you have a
clear _microwave_ (not necessarily optical) Line of Sight (LoS).

Tatty bye,

Jim'll