[Ti] Airport range

[Dennis Fazio]

--On January 10, 2005 10:44:44 PM -0500 Jim Freeman <jpfreeman at mac.com> wrote:

[...]
> What's interesting this time is that my PowerBook works just fine in her
> office. With both laptops side by side on her desk, I get 2-3 bands in the
> menu bar airport icon, while she gets 0-1.

I believe the "bands" (or the bar if you open Internet Connect) are a measure 
of radio signal strength. Airport and Airport Extreme both operate on 2.4GHz, 
so it should not be an Airport/Airport Extreme issue.

Usually the metal-clad Powerbooks have worse reception than the plastic-clad 
iBooks, so your situation seems different.

Airport does not "wear out" since there are no batteries or moving parts. 
There should be no degradation in the first several years of use.

A full Airport Base station would not likely have that much better range, 
though it could be slightly better depending upon the antenna design. 
Probably not worth the additional expense. A second Airport Express would be 
a better economic/functional choice.
I suspect it's just a weakness on the part of the iBook transceiver/antenna. 
You can try different orientations of the iBook and the Airport Express, or 
move the AE around a bit. Sometimes there are reflection/refractions of 
signal that create null nodes in small spots.

If you just want to improve the signal to the iBook in the office location, 
the cheapest way to go is to get an external WiFi card and download or 
purchase the open source or IOXperts driver. I use an old Orinoco Gold card 
on occasion when I'm in a place where the signal is a bit too weak for my 
Airport card inside the Aluminum or Titanium case of my PowerBook.

-- 
Dennis Fazio
dfz at mac.com