WTFone?

I've spent much of the last 24 hours trying to figure exactly what was causing my IBM ThinkPad T-40, with its 802.11a/b/g card, to hook up with any of four Wi-Fi access points detectable from my desk (three here and one next door), and yet to exchange no data whatsoever. Oddly, it worked yesterday when a techie friend improved it; but when it got back on my desk the suckage set back in.

Then tonight I showed my seven-year old boy KStars, and a mess of cool stuff on the Web, through the Netgear Wi-Fi access point that sits beside his bed (near an Ethernet outlet patched through to the hub in the wiring closet). Everything worked perfectly. But back on my desk: suckage again.

Then I looked at my desk phone, a Panasonic KX-TG4000B, and saw it has an antenna: it's wireless too. Then I looked in the manual and saw it bragged about being a 2.4 GHz system. Then I moved the laptop a few feet away, and it worked fine.

At the Panasonic site for the unit, there is a popup window that appears when you click on the "(FHSS) Frequency Hopping Digital Spread Spectrum" (it's linkproof). The text says, "This system randomly changes transmission frequency several times per second without causing cross-talk, enabling the use of multiple handsets. FHSS technology also enhances security due to the changing of frequencies." Well, whatever it does, you don't want a wireless laptop next to it.

Posted by dsearls, June 18, 2004 03:58 AM | | TrackBack