1 mile range wireless card Fake or Real?

i found this http://radiolabs.com/products/wireless/waverv2.php for $150.

is this fake or real?

 

Powered antennas change things a bit as far as range. A mile isn't out of the question, but it'd only happen over flat ground with no obstructions.

Also realize that most wireless cards transmit at around 20-30mW, from my experience. This one is claiming 200mW, which is nearing the upper limit of FCC rules. So it's possible. I know you can overdrive the wattage of WRT54G/WRT54GL with the DD-WRT and other firmwares to around 200mW.

It'll kill your battery with an average current draw of 355mW, though (a USB port at MAXIMUM can only supply 500mW, and some don't even do that).

 

Please don't cross-post.

Transmitting 200mW on a 5dBi omnidirectional antenna is extremely rude at the very least and likely ineffective. The AP you're communicating with is likely only using 20-30mW, so while it may see you your notebook won't see it without a very good directional antenna and line-of-sight. In all likelihood all you'll do is interfere with other WiFi traffic.

I'm not sure how much more effective that 5dBi antenna is going to be than the antenna panels mounted behind your screen. Probably not at all. Back in the days of PC Card WiFi I used an ORiNOCO Gold and 5dBi blade antenna and the range was roughly equivalent to current internal notebook radios.

Using a USB WiFi radio with a high-gain antenna, either an omni or (ideally) directional, is a good idea. You minimize signal loss by having the radio attached almost directly to the antenna. Of course, you lose quite a bit of portability. Car/truck mounting the antenna and radio with the USB cable leading to about where you use your notebook might be an interesting application, as would getting long-range access at home.

 

i found a review from John @ http://www.rvparkreviews.com/invboard/index.php?showtopic=1167&pid=7246&st=0&#entry7246
saying this:
For a long time now I have been working to find a long range WiFi card or system that works. The past four months of testing have been very good on this one. Card is from Radiolabs out of Fortuna, CA and no I do not own the company. Web address is Radiolabs. Phone number 877-575-3700.

Card is 2-3/4x1-3/4x1/2 with two rubber antennas that screw into top of card. One is 8" and other is 4" long, the long one has the best range. You have a small four ft cable that goes into the USB jack. Software was on CD and takes very small amount of space. Price was $149.95 plus shipping. Item is called WAVERII "WaveRVII Long Range Notebook adapter". Card will work on PC that has USB jack. Also has a 400 MW output, other cards have 200 MWs.

I had this card sent to Buckhorn Lake Resort at Kerrville, TX and started testing at that point in our last trip out. At Buckhorn's WiFi was good in first place. I took laptop south of I-10 about 1/2 mile and could see reading of 85% sig level, but could not see campground. I went north around 1/2 mile and had same reading.

In Albuquerque, NM went 1/2 mile south of Flying-J, reading were 90%. Next went north on old route 66 to top of hill and could see 30% reading at I would guess to be 1-1/4 miles out. We were at the American RV park, as I was in 1/2 mile from park could see that sig as well. Picked up number of open WiFi sites on way up hill as well.

Here at home on old Linksys card I see no sig. On new card I see 17 wiFi sites. Out of the 17 12 are locked and others are open.

We all have trouble with poor sig levels from WiFi. This trick works for me.

If you need more information please let me know.


--------------------
John
Brandon, Fl.
Foretravel MH
Honda CRV tow

 

If by "Linksys card" he means a PC Card, yeah, the dinky little antennas those things have aren't going to see very far. The antenna panels behind your modern notebook screen are a HUGE improvement on that. Still, the ranges he reports for the WaveRVII are very impressive. If the AP he's connecting to has higher than normal (200mW?) output to match the WaveRVII then 1 mile range is plausible, especially when there isn't much else around to interfere with the signal. That seems like a reasonable scenario for a RV park now that I think about it.

The trouble with cranking up the power is that you also amplify noise. That's why I recommend better antennas first. Multi-mile point-to-point links with standard power and high-gain directional antennas are common, if a bit of a pain to set up. HyperLink Tech has a good selection of 2.4GHz (WiFi) antennas: http://www.hyperlinktech.com/web/antennas_2400.php

That WaveRVII kit does seem tough to beat for simplicity though. Just be sure to cut the power back in a dense urban neighborhood.

 

Default transmit power on a Linksys AP is ~28mW from what I hear. You'd have to bump up the power on the AP.

 

consumer APs are weak.

http://www.ubnt.com/super_range_cardbus.php4
^^ more powerful than that thing (300mW)
http://www.ubnt.com/xtreme_range2.php4
^^ more powerful than either if you have a miniPCI slot (600mW)
http://www.ubnt.com/litestation2.php4
^^ a system board with 400mW integrated 2.4GHz 802.11bg...the CPU won't be great for routing but it'd work excellently as an AP.

http://www.routerboard.com/rb500.html
^^ my router, plus with one 200mW atheros abg interface

 

new reviews from Rv.net:

I just put a RadioLabs WaveRV-II into use two weeks ago and love it. There are several obstructions between me and the signal source that I was getting bumped several times per day. Haven't been bumped once since I put it into use. There are several types of antenna systems and all that I checked were in the $150 range which was the best money I have ever spent!
Pics of his product review:
http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/19732972/gotomsg/19756367.cfm#19756367

RVSnowbird

 

It's pretty rude just blasting out a ton of power over public frequencies. Your gain is the loss of other people that may have networks near you who get drowned out by your signal. Just make sure you're courteous when using any of this high power gear I know if anyone was jamming my signal, I'd call the FCC.

 

R O F L M A O

 

Wow. Now we have another toy to play with!