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bobrocke · Jun 3, 2002, 08:27 AM

There's a lot of conversation about the poor range of an AirPort card in a TiBook. What are the specifics? What actual ranges (in feet) are people experiencing? Are there any easy solutions?

Bob

rambo47 · Jun 3, 2002, 08:52 AM

In general, the Ti Book has lousy range. I'd estimate it's 1/3 of the iBook's range or less judging by what I've heard. Apparently the titanium blocks the AirPort card's signal. Now, that being said, my results varies from the norm. I get outstanding reception throughout my house and as far as 120' outside the house. Mine is the second generation Ti, the frist 667 MHz. My house is old and the walls are thin, so with little interfearance or obstruction the signal travels. Bottom line: if you need great reception for your AirPort network, get an iBook.

MickS · Jun 3, 2002, 09:59 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by rambo47:
In general, the Ti Book has lousy range. I'd estimate it's 1/3 of the iBook's range or less judging by what I've heard.<hr /></blockquote>I would agree with this. I have a second generation TiBook (first 667) and the reception compared with a Pismo G3 500 is terrible.

The biggest problem I have is that the reception is varies. I can have a three bar signal one moment and the next no signal at all. The Pismo doesn't show this fluctuation. To test things I swapped cards between the two machines but to no effect.

I've come to the conclusion that if I want to make real use of the Airport on the TiBook I'm going to have to have a base station on each floor of my house. This isn't something that I anticipated

Given that the poor performance is down to the metal casing on the Ti book and the signal not being able to get in I'm surprised that Apple haven't come out with some re-engineering with later revisions.

mrmister · Jun 3, 2002, 12:02 PM

I, on the other hand, don't have any real problems with the range on my Ti--my wife's iBook gets better range, but I'm not having any issues in my house. It really varies, depending on house construction, individual Ti's and the alignment of the laptop...so it is hard to give concrete numbers.

My 800 has better reception than my 500--of that I am certain.

Carl Norum · Jun 3, 2002, 12:20 PM

The PowerBook's poor AirPort reception is sometimes made worse depending on the environment you're in. My father has a PowerBook 667 (the old one), and it gets reasonable reception at home, as long as he sits pointing the right direction. However, when using the wireless access points in the Engineering building on campus (he's a prof) my iBook gets a lot more range than his PowerBook does. I assume it has something to do with the building construction - metal studs would make a pretty good Faraday cage. I don't know wireless communications from a hole in the ground, though - I'm a microelectronics kind of guy.

Titanium667 · Jun 6, 2002, 08:34 PM

I've found it best to keep your Airport Base Station as high as possible, preferably on the second floor in a central location. I also switched to a D-Link 714 Access point which also improved my TiBook's (667 rev B) reception throughout the house. My next experiment will be adding a stronger (db) antenna to the D-Link!(not possible with Airport Base Station without ripping it apart)

SOLIDAge · Jun 6, 2002, 09:32 PM

Ti Range SUCKS terribly

mine max's out at about 30 feet

TheMosco · Jun 6, 2002, 10:25 PM

I heard the new 800 DVI and 667 DVI have much better reception than the older models.

jwtseng · Jun 7, 2002, 04:38 PM

Really, all of you should look into your setup a bit more. I'll agree that the TiBooks probably don't get as good airport reception because of the construction materials.

The thing that made the biggest difference in my setup was upgrading from the original Airport Basestation (silver) to the white ABS 2.0. My range immediately went from barely 1 or 2 (and wildly fluctuating in-and-out reception ...LOUSY) to 4 or 5 lights (full strength). Nothing else with my setup changed. This was on a Ti 400 and holds true with my Ti 800. I do believe that reception has improved with the latest revision and possibly the one prior as well. I am able to surf the web in my backyard under a gazebo with my ABS 2.0 in the upstairs office (2nd floor).

Angry · Jun 8, 2002, 06:28 PM

Apparently the internal antenna may be loose from its housing.

Try removing the battery and firmly pressing the case/inside of the battery compartment all the way around. This may reseat the antenna. Reports have been excellent with this method, let me know what happens.

SOLIDAge · Jun 9, 2002, 02:08 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by Angry:
Apparently the internal antenna may be loose from its housing.

Try removing the battery and firmly pressing the case/inside of the battery compartment all the way around. This may reseat the antenna. Reports have been excellent with this method, let me know what happens.<hr /></blockquote>did that, nope
even have a Tin Can Antenna installed, doesn't do much...

Thumannator · Jun 10, 2002, 11:32 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by MickS:
 <blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by rambo47:
In general, the Ti Book has lousy range. I'd estimate it's 1/3 of the iBook's range or less judging by what I've heard.<hr /></blockquote>I would agree with this. I have a second generation TiBook (first 667) and the reception compared with a Pismo G3 500 is terrible.

The biggest problem I have is that the reception is varies. I can have a three bar signal one moment and the next no signal at all. The Pismo doesn't show this fluctuation. To test things I swapped cards between the two machines but to no effect.

I've come to the conclusion that if I want to make real use of the Airport on the TiBook I'm going to have to have a base station on each floor of my house. This isn't something that I anticipated

Given that the poor performance is down to the metal casing on the Ti book and the signal not being able to get in I'm surprised that Apple haven't come out with some re-engineering with later revisions.<hr /></blockquote>I thought some change had been made, though I may be wrong. On the sides of my PB 800, near the front, there are two (one on each side) "windows". In fact, the manual that came with the PB identifies them as "Airport windows" I believe. To the best of my recollection, these were not present before, though I may be wrong. I only saw a PB 500 way back when they first came out, and it was not something I paid attention to. Anyway, these windows are supposed to improve Airport reception, but I have no way of saying if this is true as I do not run an Airport network at home. I just read that that is what the windows were for. Anyone know more about this? Were the windows always there and I just never noticed?

Thumannator

mrmister · Jun 10, 2002, 11:36 AM

They were always there, but they are thicker in the latest revision.

nahaliel · Jun 11, 2002, 02:04 AM

Sell your airport card on ebay, they got for 80-90ish. Buy an Orinoco Silver or Gold card for about 70ish, problem solved. Sure there is a 1" black thing hanging out the side of your machine.. but the range is great, and its much cheaper than a base station on every floor like someone mentioned earlier.. (And if you'd get a silver, there is a way to flash it with apple's software to give it 128bit encryption(which is waht the Gold has over the Silver))

Surfer · Jun 15, 2002, 04:34 AM

I read on the powerpage about user reports about how apple improved the airport reception when the sent their powerbook in for a repair. maybe you should brake your pb if you still have a warranty?!?!?

I posted the full story <a href="http://www.macgo.net/" target="_blank">here</a>

Stogieman · Jun 16, 2002, 04:25 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by solidage:
 <blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by Angry:
Apparently the internal antenna may be loose from its housing.

Try removing the battery and firmly pressing the case/inside of the battery compartment all the way around. This may reseat the antenna. Reports have been excellent with this method, let me know what happens.<hr /></blockquote>did that, nope
even have a Tin Can Antenna installed, doesn't do much...<hr /></blockquote>Do you mean something like the <a href="http://http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/weblog/view/wlg/448" target="_blank">Pringles Can</a> hack?

<img src="http://www.oreillynet.com/~rob/pringles/shotgun-200.jpg" alt=" - " />

The last paragraph on the page really caught my attention:
<blockquote>quote:<hr /> Apparently, antennas of comparable gain cost upwards of $150. Over a clear line of sight, with short antenna cable runs, a 12db to 12db can-to-can shot should be able to carry an 11Mbps link well over ten miles.
<hr /></blockquote>I really want to try something like this.

KellyHogan · Jun 16, 2002, 01:40 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by Stogieman:
 <blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by solidage:
 <blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by Angry:
Apparently the internal antenna may be loose from its housing.

Try removing the battery and firmly pressing the case/inside of the battery compartment all the way around. This may reseat the antenna. Reports have been excellent with this method, let me know what happens.<hr /></blockquote>did that, nope
even have a Tin Can Antenna installed, doesn't do much...<hr /></blockquote>Do you mean something like the <a href="http://http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/weblog/view/wlg/448" target="_blank">Pringles Can</a> hack?

<img src="http://www.oreillynet.com/~rob/pringles/shotgun-200.jpg" alt=" - " />

The last paragraph on the page really caught my attention:
<blockquote>quote:<hr /> Apparently, antennas of comparable gain cost upwards of $150. Over a clear line of sight, with short antenna cable runs, a 12db to 12db can-to-can shot should be able to carry an 11Mbps link well over ten miles.
<hr /></blockquote>I really want to try something like this.<hr /></blockquote>That guy with the Vaio and Pringle's can has DOS apps that run on wireless networks?