Thread: Are these illegal?

Yes they are very much illegal.

The 2.4GHz range is very specific in what is liscence free and even 0.5 watts is way way over the restrictions.

You need to apply for a liscence to use any wavelengths or to increase the power of a wifi range in a specific area.

100mW (20dBi) is the legal limit for 2.4GHz band. Anything above that could land you in hot water if you got caught. These units have been available in the US (where they are legal I understand) for years.

When I was involved in this kind of thing - it's been a few years now - we used a company called Hyperlink Technologies in the US. www.hyperlinktech.com. There may be competitors in the UK now, but at the time this was the most cost effective way of getting hold of aerials, feeders, etc

BTW, I've got a couple of aerials still in their original boxes if you are thinking of doing long range links. By all means drop me a PM if you are looking to buy anything of the sort.

Chris

what sort of licence would you need for stronger capacities? do they cost much?

I'd be very suprised if you could get a licence to increase the power within an allocated band.

You cannot increase power in any current ISM (Instrumentation, Scientific and Medical) band.

Are their aerial restrictions?

The reason I ask is that a simple directional aerial would give 6db of gain which is the quivalent of increasing the power to one watt or so.
Ideal if you have to send the signal across a specific path between two buildings.

The ISM restrictions are on total output power. A Planar 6dBI aerial and a standard PCMCIA/Mini-PCI card hits the top limit of the allowed transmissions.

If you have a specific query of your combination of kit and aerial it's best to contact the RA (Radio Authority) who can come and check.

Note: The only exception that I know of on the Total Output Power ruling is in the Wireless Backhaul range (5.8GHz) but that is licensed per user connected, minimum 500 at £1.00/user/year.

Originally Posted by Equiphase

How long is it until ISPs start providing entire neighbourhoods with wifi access?

You can already get it here in Newark... http://www.jhcs.com/
ChrisB.