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Hello??

A Word from Rob

Since moving back to the United States in March 2007, I was having two intermittent yet infuriating problems. Sometimes, when talking on the phone, the internet would just freeze. Once I hung up the phone, the internet would be restored immediately. I originally assumed that the problem was my VOIP provider, and I contacted them. The second problem was sending email attachments. At times, the attachment would hang after initiating. In about 20 minutes, magically, it would transmit. I thought the problem was related to our email servers and we were actually looking at email alternatives. But then, I found the solution right under my nose.

Read Steve's article to learn more.

I don't know how it happened, but somewhere along the way I became wireless. Started in high school when I noticed the cords hanging down from the clock radio and the lamp. They looked all jumbled. I remember trying to tape the wires to the back of the table leg so I couldn't see them. That worked OK with squared legs, but round legs, what a pain.

Now, several years after the introduction of wireless devices, I've got more mice than Disney World, cordless keyboards, cordless phones, wireless routers, wireless laptops, wireless usb network cards, LANs, garage door openers, wireless on and on. If you add to that the possible baby monitors, walkie-talkies, and microphones, you can see that the invisible world inside your home resembles a Star Wars laser battle. Wireless radio frequencies are bouncing all over the place. Oh, don't forget digital speakers and Wiis.

If you have made the switch to wireless, and who hasn't, you've probably noticed the occasional blan               in your phone conversations. My introduction to this problem came when I had an important conference call scheduled. It was the first one with a new employer. I was excited to be a new part of the organization and couldn't wait. The time arrived; I pushed the buttons, announced my presence, and started listening. What the co              who               what               oh there. Must have been something wrong with their phone. I missed what they were saying. It's better now. I can hear fine. The conversation goes along and I hear, "so              go ahead Steve and              chu               Hello?               Hello? I'm sorry what did you say?" I was eventually able to find out what was said, but suddenly not hearing half of the conversation was more than just an irritation.

You may have experienced the problem in a different way. Maybe you are working on the Internet trying to send email or download a file and the computer just hangs. "It's probably just poor service from the ISP," you say, or maybe a problem down the line interrupting." You're not aware that someone or something inside your home can cause the problem.

So what exactly is the problem here?

Well, in a nutshell, all of our wireless devices use radio frequencies that can and do disrupt each other. The three factors that effect our wireless operations the most are traffic, obstructions, and wattage. Of these three, traffic is the most worrisome

The job of controlling this traffic belongs to the FCC. They are the ones deciding when a particular frequency, 900MHz for example, is overloaded and when a new frequency, 2.4GHz for example, is needed. They also control which devices are allowed to transmit within specific ranges and what wattage they can use.

Wireless phones started for the most part with 43MHz to 49MHz bandwidth. Because TVs, computers, refrigerators, and baby monitors, emit low bandwidth interference in this range, phones quickly moved along to new frequencies. The first move was to 800MHz, then 900MHz. When 900MHz was all the rage you could easily overhear your neighbors' wireless conversation. This and overcrowding prodded the move to the 2.4GHz range. Although 2.4GHz was a new frequency for phones it had been the domain of the Wireless routers and LANs for quite some time. This is the point where we started seeing some major issues between wireless phones and wireless LANs.

Phone technology needed a way to deliver uninterrupted service to their customers and what they came up with was going to be the bane of wireless router and LAN users for some time.

Here's a quote from an Intel Wireless Support Document. " Note: Many 2.4 GHz cordless telephones operate with what is called frequency hopping technology. This technology utilizes the entire frequency range also used by 802.11b, 802.11g and 802.11n wireless devices. Thus changing the channel of the Access Point may not eliminate the interference problem."

Yep, wireless phones are designed to hop all over the full range of frequencies used by your IEEE 802.11 router. It's called FHSS or frequency hopping spread spectrum. The results can be disastrous for Internet operation on your computer.

Wireless routers arrived on the scene between 1997 and 1999 with the 802.11b wireless router. The 802.11g, was added in 2003 the 802.11a in 2004 and the 802.11n arrived this year, September 2007. With the exception of the 802.11a they all use the same 2.4GHz frequency used by our 2.4GHz wireless phones and speakers.

So now that we know what causes the problem, what can we do to fix it?

1. The first and most effective solution is to purchase a wireless phone that uses the new 5.8GHz digital range. This is its primary benefit over the 2.4 GHz phones. It's much less likely to hop or step on your 802.11b, 802.llg or 802.11n's frequencies. It's the single most important fix for the problem.
2. Move your router away from the outer wall and to a central location. Raise it off of the floor.
3. Move routers and phones as far away from each other as possible.
4. When possible replace the routers antenna with a hi gain antenna.
5. If you are stuck using a 2.4GHz phone and a 2.4GHz router try changing the channels on your phone. Most offer this option.
6. If all of the above fail you can always go back to the tried and true wired network. It works.

So there's the solution for this problem but I still have one last question for you. Do you have fewer cords or more cords since the introduction of wireless?

MCAW Media Access Protocol for Wireless LAN's

WiKi Cordless Frequencies

IEEE 802.11 protocol

Hello Direct.com/JimHanks

Cisco Non-overlapping Independent Channels 3

Intel text reference/ hopping

Interference from Cordless Phones 2003

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