Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

[burnett AT pobox.com]

On Mon, 12 Aug 2002, Greg Cox wrote:

> > The problem seems to be that these all want to be 2.4 GHz.  (Nevermind the
> > thingy that's going to let me use a remote control to control the MP3s on
> > my laptop, which also seems to want to be 2.4Ghz...)
> > 
> > What's a girl to do -- will these all play nicely with each other?
> 
> There's a limited amount of space in the 2.4GHz range.  One of my
> coworkers has a wireless A/V device, similar to the one you listed,
> that uses something like 4 of the 11 possible bands (don't quote me).
> It has Issues(tm) and goes hopping if the microwave comes on, and
> half the time if the cordless phone is in use.  And he doesn't even
> have a wireless network in the mix.

The 2.4GHz range is chopped up into 11 channels, but devices tend to 
spread over roughly 2 channels to either side of the one they're set on. 
So realistically you have channel 1, 6 and 11 as usable. So if you get a 
lot of interference from your wireless 802.11b 2.4GHz Airport Base station 
or Linksys/SMC/D-Link basestation and your cordless phone, set the base 
station to 6 or 11 (almost everything defaults to be on channel 1). That 
alone will help a lot in reducing interference, and is the first advice I 
give people if they're having problems with their wireless networks. 

If you're trying to use a 2.4GHz cordless phone and a 
802.11b wireless ethernetwork and a 2.4GHz video broadcaster and have a 
frequently-used microwave oven in the close vicinity of the base units of 
the above, you're going to run into problems. Start getting wires strung 
through the walls, attic, or basement. Greg's advice about switching your 
cordless phone to a 900 MHz is a good idea, too. 

Steve B 

> Basically, anything that doesn't need to be going through the air,
> get it out of the air.  Wireless LAN, kinda stuck.  Cordless phone,
> look at a good 900MHz model (so retro!).  TV: see about cabling
> through the wall, if distance isn't too much of an issue.  Without
> knowing a floorplan, I dunno how feasible that is for you.
> 
> But, yeah, I'd say "expect interference."
> 
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-- 
Steve Burnett    burnett AT pobox.com   http://www.pobox.com/~burnett/
System Administration Technical Documentation Information Retrieval