WiFi tether range question

[poooookah78]

I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE the sholes ROM that I finished yesterday. I spent all night on the WiFi tether at my gf's house (she doesn't have internet). I was able to play poker all night and browse youtube videos in HQ with NO lag. My question is, how far have you guys been able to pick up the signal broadcasted from the phone? I had it on the bed and I was only about 5 feet away, but I'm sure it could go further. Any experiences to share?

 

[jasonb]

don't know yet. i tethered a coupe nights ago just to try it out and i had the phone about 3 feet from my laptop the whole time. i was on my couch and the droid was on the end table in the charging dock. if i had to guess i'd say signal strength would drop pretty quickly. the phone isn't meant to be used as a wireless router.

i guess it would be easy enough to do a test. just set your droid somewhere in the house and start walking around with your laptop in your hand and see what it does.

 

[cisco0910]

good question. Now somebody go experiment and report back! lol

 

[poooookah78]

I moved a bit but didn't really test different speeds at that point. It's going to be a matter of doing a speedtest.net test in a variety of locations/distances to see what kind of performance can be expected.

Anyone care to be awesome and do this right now? I WOULD but I'm in the office, the would frown at me... or maybe wonder about me.

 

[poooookah78]

Anyone? Anyone? Beuller?

 

[jasonb]

i'd say just place the droid somewhere and walk away with your laptop and see how far you can go until the signal drops. i know my laptop has an indicator of signal strength right on the task panel thingy. it's got 5 bars, the more bars the higher the signal strength (obviously). just walk around and watch the signal strength. i doubt you'll see a difference in speedtest.net results until right around the point that the laptop completely loses the signal. it's only a max of about 2mbps so i doubt you'll see signal strength affect that until the very end.

honestly i really don't see the point though. if you are sitting on your couch or bed or whatever how hard is it to set your phone within a few feet of your computer? if you need to get up and go from room to room then stick the droid in your pocket and bring it with you.

 

[poooookah78]

i'd say just place the droid somewhere and walk away with your laptop and see how far you can go until the signal drops. i know my laptop has an indicator of signal strength right on the task panel thingy. it's got 5 bars, the more bars the higher the signal strength (obviously). just walk around and watch the signal strength. i doubt you'll see a difference in speedtest.net results until right around the point that the laptop completely loses the signal. it's only a max of about 2mbps so i doubt you'll see signal strength affect that until the very end.

Do you recommend a huge file download while walking around to see the Kbps drop off and tell from there?

 

[BayouFlyFisher]

My wifi signal works all the way out to my mailbox - about 100 feet from the front of the house.

 

[jasonb]

i'd say just place the droid somewhere and walk away with your laptop and see how far you can go until the signal drops. i know my laptop has an indicator of signal strength right on the task panel thingy. it's got 5 bars, the more bars the higher the signal strength (obviously). just walk around and watch the signal strength. i doubt you'll see a difference in speedtest.net results until right around the point that the laptop completely loses the signal. it's only a max of about 2mbps so i doubt you'll see signal strength affect that until the very end.

Do you recommend a huge file download while walking around to see the Kbps drop off and tell from there?

i just recommend watching the signal strength from your laptop. eventually you'll see it weaken and eventually drop the connection. you won't see a difference in speed until your about to drop it. the phone has a G band chip in it which is good up to 54kbps and with 3G being only up to about maybe 2.5mbps max you won't see a difference in speed until you are getting very weak reception.

 

[jasonb]

My wifi signal works all the way out to my mailbox - about 100 feet from the front of the house.

there ya go. but like i said, whats the point.

 

[poooookah78]

i'd say just place the droid somewhere and walk away with your laptop and see how far you can go until the signal drops. i know my laptop has an indicator of signal strength right on the task panel thingy. it's got 5 bars, the more bars the higher the signal strength (obviously). just walk around and watch the signal strength. i doubt you'll see a difference in speedtest.net results until right around the point that the laptop completely loses the signal. it's only a max of about 2mbps so i doubt you'll see signal strength affect that until the very end.

Do you recommend a huge file download while walking around to see the Kbps drop off and tell from there?

i just recommend watching the signal strength from your laptop. eventually you'll see it weaken and eventually drop the connection. you won't see a difference in speed until your about to drop it. the phone has a G band chip in it which is good up to 54kbps and with 3G being only up to about maybe 2.5mbps max you won't see a difference in speed until you are getting very weak reception.

Does changing channels increase speed? Also, if you're saying the G Band chip sets the speed, would you be better off using a usb tether? In other words is PDAnet better than Wifi Tether for overall speed?

 

[jasonb]

Do you recommend a huge file download while walking around to see the Kbps drop off and tell from there?

i just recommend watching the signal strength from your laptop. eventually you'll see it weaken and eventually drop the connection. you won't see a difference in speed until your about to drop it. the phone has a G band chip in it which is good up to 54kbps and with 3G being only up to about maybe 2.5mbps max you won't see a difference in speed until you are getting very weak reception.

Does changing channels increase speed? Also, if you're saying the G Band chip sets the speed, would you be better off using a usb tether? In other words is PDAnet better than Wifi Tether for overall speed?

no because our speed is being limited by the 3G network. the highest speed i have seen over 3G on my phone is just over 2.15mbps. so if the wifi chip can send and receive up to 54mbps then the weakest link is still verizon/3G.

it's the same way with regular wireless routers. an N band router can send and receive up to 300mbps but nobody's internet is that fast. even the fastest internet out there is only 101mbps (optimum lightpath).

we might see a big change when 4G is mainstream. once 4G gets up and running there may not be a need for cable/fios/dsl anymore.