News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

July 7, 2006

internet

Call “interference” on other networks

Posted Jul. 7, ’06, 8:37 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Internet

Mad interferenceIs your AirPort reception looking pale? Spotty? Has the ‘fi’ gone out of your Wi-Fi? When it comes to wireless Ethernet, the enemy is interference. And with the proliferation of Wi-Fi nowadays, the biggest source of potential interference is other peoples’ networks.

Adam Knight (aka codepoet) of MacGeekery decided to see just what he could do about said interference. It turns out, since most routers come preset to a default “channel” of the wireless spectrum, and the average person doesn’t know/care a whit about this, most networks end up residing on the same slice of spectrum. Presto: interference.

With a little usage of network utility iStumbler and some Apple utilities, Adam mapped out the dead spots in his network, then isolated the cause of the interference and adjusted his network to compensate, more than doubling his data rate. Take that, interference.

[via Infinite Loop]


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