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Re: [LUG] The Wi-Fi database that shamed Google

 

On Sat, 2010-05-01 at 08:35 +0100, Matthew Macdonald-Wallace wrote:
> Quoting John Williams <subbass@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
> > One of my jobs today, see if my wifi signal extends to the road. Trouble
> > is I won't know if Google had some far more sensitive antenna in their
> > cars :(
> 
> I've had reliable 802.11b connections running over links up to 500  
> meters if not more in length using modified pringles cans.
> 
> Using 8dB omni-antennae, I can easily get a "doughnut" range of up to  
> 200 meters if not more - far more than you'd need to scan the width of  
> a street whilst you're driving down it.
> My friend Bob informs me that it's entirely possible to scan an entire  
> street from the comfort of your car with nothing more than Kismet,  
> GPSd, a home-brew omni-antenna, a usb gps-dongle and a laptop (he's  
> said that even a P-II with 128M RAM would be enough for this!).
> 
> 
> If Bob can find your network, then I'm sure Google can...

I don't live on a street, I have a moderate distance of my own property
between the road an my router. 80yds at an estimate.

I don't imagine google had directional antenna sprouted in all
directions, at a guess just larger/more sensitive general one/s. Most
likely at the top of their camera assembly somewhere, it would be most
logical?

-- 
John Williams <subbass@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>


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