Interesting Wireless Issue

Discussion in 'Wireless' started by tripwire45, May 23, 2005.

  1. tripwire45
    Honorary Member

    tripwire45 Zettabyte Poster

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    We moved into a new house just a little over a week ago and I've been trying to get everything set up including the network and the phones. Our "main" phone in the kitchen is a base unit with a cordless phone running at 900 MHz. My wife replaced another cordless phone with two new units that run at 5.8 GHz. I set up one next to our DSL "modem" in the den. The modem (for lack of a more accurate term) has a built-in 802.11b AP which operates at 2.4 GHz. I had tested the new phones before we moved and they worked well. The two new phones are interesting in that the second phone is a remote unit to the first, dependant on the RF link to the primary base to connect to the phone system.

    When I installed the phones in the house, the two new ones they initially worked and then failed after about a day. I also noticed that my laptop's wireless connection to the AP was pretty sketchy. I finally got around to dealing with it yesterday. I didn't expect two radio sources on completely different frequencies to interfere with each other but I decided to test this. We keep an old cord phone in our bedroom so I decided to switch the corded and cordless phones. The new cordless phone and remote unit worked once I plugged the base into the jack in our bedroom away from the AP in the den and the corded phone worked quite well in the den. The two transmitters, one running at 2.4 GHz and the other at 5.8 GHz must have been interfering with each other.

    I'm no wireless expert but I thought I'd ask if anyone can provide an explanation for this? Just color me confused (again). Thanks. :oops:
     
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  2. EMacd

    EMacd Bit Poster

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    Hi Trip,

    Just done a bit of searching and it seems that 5.8 GHz phones are not all that they seem to be...

    The base communicates with the handset at 5.8 but to preserve the battery life, the handset communicates with the base at 2.4 GHz.

    Have a read:

    http://telecom.hellodirect.com/docs/Tutorials/5.8GHzFrequency.1.031903.asp

    Check all of the info with your phone and see if the literature confirms this. I'd be interested to know what it says.

    Cheers

    Euan


    Edit: Further thought, try changing the channel that your AP broadcasts on to see if it helps.
     
  3. tripwire45
    Honorary Member

    tripwire45 Zettabyte Poster

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    Thanks Emacd. Good find. :)
     
    Certifications: A+ and Network+

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