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This is n’t much of a trouble at the 200 square foot Manhattan apartment that doubles as Gizmodo HQ , but Paul Boutin gives the lowdown on how to mark up proper Wi - Fi reporting in an real , full - sized American family :

The current crop of 802.11 gear ( colloquially known as “ Wi - Fi , ” even when that ’s not technically correct ) can reach through a elbow room or two , but many homeowners find it ’s not enough to address the entire family and yard . Wi - Fi uses a microwave radio receiver signal to reach through wall , floors , and ceilings , just like a cordless telephone . But these obstacles also dampen the signaling just as they do with the phone . The advertised range for Wi - Fi is 150 feet indoors and 300 feet outdoors , but in actual life it often fails to attain from the kitchen to the life way , or upstairs to the bedroom . Determined to exercise my unalienable right as an American to surf the Web from the swim pool , I enlist a Wi - Fi technologist who also owns a sprawling suburban home to make my system solve . Our mission : Blanket the entire property with Wi - Fi , using only off - the - shelf consumer computer hardware and without move more cable . That meant setting up multiple Wi - Fi bases ( “ access points , ” as they ’re call off ) linked back to a single DSL telephone circuit .

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