Hi folks. I do some moonlighting installing WLAN systems in homes here in San Diego during my off hours and thought you'd be interested in an unexpected (when I 1st started) problem with houses here. A lot of them are in the southwest stucco finish and that often means a mesh of chicken wire buried on all the walls (inside and outside many times). That makes WLAN signals nearly impossible over the rather large distances these huge homes need to cover. It is not uncommon for me to have to run coax to two or more locations and put access points at each just to get acceptable coverage. Another has to go outside near the pool since the signal can't get through the house wall.

I'll bet a clever hacker could collect all sorts of info about these people. You don't even need to be a hacker, really though because most of these people do not bother with any kind of security on their WLANs. I drive through neighborhoods and maintain almost continuous coverage. Who needs Starbucks when you live in San Diego?

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WLAN Installer

Mmmhh.
Do you know the mesh size used? Could even be that the mesh blocks 802.11b at 2.45G but allows 802.11a at 5.7G to pass thru.

Have you compared the coverage in both bands?

I guess if the mesh blocks the signal that well it makes life hard for any hacker to pick up a usable signal.

I imagine there is plenty of radiation through doors and windows, but they are not always favourably oriented.

Nubbage

I live in San Diego and had that exact problem in my 20-year-old stucco house. I finally gave up and ran network cable throughout (not an easy task, I guarantee you).

Like the other poster said, I ,too, can connect to my neighbor's unsecured WLAN just by walking outside with my notebook computer. If my house did not have the wire mesh, I could probably get away with not even subscribing to broadband service.