Timothy Murphy said:
This is absurdly pessimistic, in my experience.
Lets look at it one part at a time, and follow the logic.
1) good line of sight at short distance is best
That's an *obvious* truth!
2) for anything else
Means that what follows does not apply for such wonderful
situations described in 1). It doesn't apply because if there is
only a short distance and there is perfect line of sight, it is
very unlikely that a reflection provides the major signal
component. Therefore the polarization is unlikely to be
changed. And even if it is, a 10-15 dB drop in signal probably
won't hurt, since the signal would have a 20-30 dB or more fade
margin anyway.
3) if there is a marginal connection
In other words, this part makes no difference if you have
a good connection.
4) experimenting with orientation might do wonders.
That is the only part left for your claim that it is absurd.
And of course 4) is not at all absurd, but is absolutely true.
Can you follow the logic when it is laid out one step at
a time?
I don't believe there should be any problem in using WiFi
in 99% or houses or apartments.
That is a meaningless statement. No problem doing *what*?
Connecting across the length of the living room? I agree.
Connecting through the exterior wall to the patio? I doubt
it comes close to 99%. Maybe 50-50. It depends on the position
of the windows and the composition of the walls. And flat
statement just are not useful.
If there is, I would suggest trying a different AP or PCMCIA card.
Which of course has *nothing* to do with whether signals
propagate or not, so that is not likely to be the correct
solution.
I have a PCI-to-PCMCIA adaptor on my desktop
with a Lucent/Orinoco Gold PCMCIA card in it.
This has a separate antenna,
but I haven't found the orientation of the antenna makes much difference.
If you make a valid test, you'll find that the null can be as
deep a 30+ dB. (Some applications *require* a null better than
30 dB!)
The reason you haven't found much difference is probably because
you are experimenting in an environment that has hugely
significant amounts of multi-path signals. That means no matter
how you orient the antenna, there is a signal relatively close
to that polarization. You won't see more than a few dB change.
A typical example of that would be a pci bus card in a tower
case with the antenna on the back. You simply can't escape all
of the reflections off the case itself. With your separate
antenna it depends on where you put it. If you happen to be in
a building that has aluminum foil backed insulation in the walls
(which is exceedingly common), you'll have a hard time finding
any polarization that is unworkable.
Regardless of that, if you want to see an example of just
exactly how significant cross-polarization nulls are... look at
virtually every microwave used by the telecommunications
industry and virtually every C band satellite system, and most X
band satellite systems other than those providing TV to
consumers. All of those cited use both horizontal and vertical
signals at the exact same frequency, with the antennas very
carefully set at 180 degree angles. Starband satellite Internet
service is a good example.
I can access the desktop from my laptop (also with an Orinoco gold card)
throughout a very large (4-storey) building
with some extremely thick (2 feet) walls.
So? As with another recent thread, you seem to think that a
single experience is indicative of what all experience will be.
However... in this case I have no doubt you are exaggerating
greatly. A large 4 story building with 2 foot thick walls?
2400MHz signals don't go through concrete, don't go through foil
back insulation, and don't go through plaster walls that use
wire mesh to support the plaster.
Your not being honest about this 4 story building.
