Question about wireless 802.11b conflicts

[frescies]

I have not seen an answer to this anywhere....

What if your neighbor has a wireless 802.11b router less than 50 feet away from yours? Will they conflict? Is there some kind of band separation protocol programmed into the routers to set them on different "channels" or something?

Ive read the description of tons of Wireless routers and access points and none of them seem to answer my question on the subject. I want to be sure that a wireless router wont conlflict with the one my neighbor owns next door.

Please let me know if you have had any experience with this.

David

[alex_ant]

Yup, they will automatically negotiate separate channels and they will not interfere with each other. Just like a good (or any, these days) cordless phone.

[rainman::|:|]

There's no bands that i know of, except the standard; the cards just send and receive packets from specific devices. It is very possible that other people can use your wireless connections if they're in range and you don't use security. Most often, wireless devices are identified by MAC numbers, and the cards know which ones they can and can't talk to.

pnw

[zimv20]

i've never run into that situation, but in osx it looks like you'll be able to choose which network you want to connect to.

as a previous poster said, the networks won't get confused. and w/ the above feature, neither will you.

[biscool]

If they dont put a password or wep on their network, you can always connect to it

[rainman::|:|]

Originally posted by biscool
If they dont put a password or wep on their network, you can always connect to it

that's true, it was fun in the pre-wireless revolution days... i heard a guy talking about how he had connected to walmart's internal 802.11b network with the username and password: walmart. i tried my hardest to find wireless PCMCIA cards for my newton, but alas i couldn't try it.

the only time you might get into trouble is when you're near directional or high-powered antenna for another 802.11b network, it could cause noise that can confuse a card.

pnw

[zimv20]

Originally posted by paulwhannel
he had connected to walmart's internal 802.11b network with the username and password: walmart.

awsome! while encryption and other measures get stronger, the weakest link is still password stupidity.

[yzedf]

Originally posted by paulwhannel
that's true, it was fun in the pre-wireless revolution days... i heard a guy talking about how he had connected to walmart's internal 802.11b network with the username and password: walmart. i tried my hardest to find wireless PCMCIA cards for my newton, but alas i couldn't try it.

the only time you might get into trouble is when you're near directional or high-powered antenna for another 802.11b network, it could cause noise that can confuse a card.

pnw

Don't forget microwave ovens and 2.4ghz cordless phones ;)

[frescies]

Thanks for the help guys!!! I thought this was the case but wanted to be sure. Now I am :D