The long and the short of it

In an earlier post (xMax and its deployment – part II) I mentioned that if one puts a Wi-Fi access point on a tall tower it could be received at long ranges, and suggested the possibility that a dual Wi-Fi / xMax phone may function as well (or as poorly) using Wi-Fi as it will using xMax. This was in the context of my discussion of potential difficulties in evaluating xMax performance in an actual deployment (which, as we all know, will happen any day now).

This resulted in a flurry of e-mail discussing the “well known fact” that Wi-Fi has a very short range of a few hundred feet at best. As a followup here are some recent articles which these readers may find interesting.

• Intel’s long-range Wi-Fi goes the distance
• Intel developing software hack for long-range WiFi
• Intel adds mileage to Wi-Fi
• Intel Modifies Wi-Fi To Add Mileage

What I do not understand is why Intel, who are pushing very hard the WiMax story, are at the same time working on a cheap alternative, albeit one which will only work in some situations. But that is another story.