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raytaylor

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#13164 25-Apr-2007 11:51
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The NZ Herald is reporting that there is growing concerns in NZ over the use of wifi in NZ (like in britian) over the use of wireless networks in schools to deliver broadband and network resources to the students

See link http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10435649

I ask if a school were to say 'right, no more wifi' and they switch off their access points, would that not do anything to help.
Wouldnt there still be the same or increasing amounts of students and teachers in the classrooms / school grounds who are using laptops? I would expect that all of these laptops have the wifi turned on by default and most people wouldnt know how to turn it off. If so then wouldnt there be much the same amount of these so called radio waves of concern in the air?

I remember in high school before wifi was introduced that probably 100 students used laptops and we, one day found out we could network with each other in different classrooms of the same building when a couple of us came close enough together.
Even before then many had the wifi on by default not knowing it, and the lack of access points didnt stop us from using the laptops at school.




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cokemaster
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  #68420 25-Apr-2007 12:54
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Ah yes... lets ban microwaves, tv, radio, cellphones, tv broadcasts, radio broadcasts, sharp objects, education and anything under the sun - better safe than sorry




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cyril7
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  #68436 25-Apr-2007 14:14
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I would be surprised if once looked into there was any issues to be found.

Compared to a cell phone, you do not place most Wifi devices right up to your body or head. Secondly the Tx power of a typical Wifi client is around 10-15dBm, compared to 30-34dBm of a Cellphone. AP's often have 20-23dBm output power, however you normallly dont sit within 10meters of them.

The only real negative is that 2.4GHz is an optimum obsorption frequency for tissue (hence the use in ovens).

Cyril

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  #68438 25-Apr-2007 14:24
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Optimum absorption frequency for water.





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  #68447 25-Apr-2007 16:06
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Correct, water it is, and tissue has a very high component of this stuff.

Cyril

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  #68448 25-Apr-2007 16:54
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Actually at 2.4 GHz water absorbs microwaves relatively poorly. The heating in a microwave oven is "diaelectric heating" - due to the movement of polar molecules, like good old H2O, induced by the magnetron.

In fact radio transmittions at 2.4 GHz are considered less risk to living tissue, due to their poor absorption, than the same tranmitted power at a lower frequency. (Ref: AS/NZS 2772.1)

When you factor in that the the RF power reaching you also drops off with the square of distance, vou can see that in the overall scheme of things, a WLAN AP represents a very, very small risk.

mike
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  #68449 25-Apr-2007 17:06
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They could be on to something, let's ban kids from Starbucks and everywhere else that has a wifi access point... just not sure where they would be allowed to go.





aw

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  #68457 25-Apr-2007 18:37
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... not to mention the 2.4GHz cordless phone at home.

 
 
 

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#68458 25-Apr-2007 18:41
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Le me check:

x Bluetooth headset
x Bluetooth stereo headset
x Bluetooth laptop
x Bluetooth mobile phone
x WiFi laptop
x WiFi accesspoint
x 2.4GHz cordless phone
x Microwave oven

Oh my! I am burning here!





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Fraktul
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  #68461 25-Apr-2007 19:37
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The signal is attenuated greater than it would be in free space propogation, sounds like absorbation to me. The energy transfer method itself is irrelevant.

richms
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  #68475 25-Apr-2007 22:23
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I was told that 2.4Ghz was simply chosen as its a trade off for physical size of the magnetron and power and frequency that it produces.

Its also the reason that to get past about 800 watts a microwave oven has to have dual magnetron's in it.




Richard rich.ms

weblordpepe
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  #69549 4-May-2007 20:49
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This is the kind of thing that gets on my nerves.

There's no conclusive evidence that WIFI causes cancer or damage to people. Yet already, there is political parties and other interest groups pushing for a ban.

It's an example of how people still have irrational fears of things they don't understand. Sure I'm not going to put my head in a microwave any time soon but I'm more than happy to live near a cellphone tower.

I actually got clued onto this type of 'radiation' fear a while back. When I was young I had my computer taken from me and put into the 'louge' to be a 'family computer'. I was told that it was because of the ratiation being emitted from all the devices in my room.

Now I got two computers, many small transformer boxes for charging phones etc, three wifi enabled devices, bluetooth and I'm not developing tumours.

Have any of you guys seen that episode of Penn & Teller where they debunk myths around radiation & stuff? I can't remember which one it was but they showed some doofus going around with a thing that measures magnetic fields and was scaring people by showing how much energy is around a microwave or light bulb or whatever.

About the worst thing I've ever had from an electro-magnetic field was when the power cables were too close to my phone cable & it screwed up my dial-up connection.

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  #69571 5-May-2007 08:38
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Just looking at your avatar, I suspect this non ionising radiation treatment has taken its toll  :)

Cyril

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  #69611 5-May-2007 15:56
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Tongue out pwned.

Americancars
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  #69631 5-May-2007 18:36
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At my school, they just announced that they were looking into letting students access the schools WLAN using their own laptops. I hope that this doesn't put them off.




Can't beat the burble of that American V8. Ohh yea!

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  #69639 5-May-2007 19:23
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I do hope they are out of the sun whilst using there laptops via the wireless lan, we would not want the mega rads of radiation from the big yellow thing in the sky from overpowering their wifi phy interfaces.

Maybe if we plastered sun screen on our laptops things might be better. I feel better already for thinking positive things,



YEAH RIGHT

Cyril

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