actually not at all, we have less TX power than most wifi devices. The data rate is inversely proportional to range, as is the frequency. We operate at a lower frequency than wifi (915 MHz), and a much lower data rate (your Arduino probably does not need a 100Mbps connection). This gets us range without blasting people with radio or having trouble with the FCC.
> actually not at all, we have less TX power than most wifi devices.
Another post in this thread says 16 mw, compared to about 50 mw for an 802.11 class device, so that's rather low and I'm somewhat surprised by the range claims. I suspect the chosen antennas play an important part.
> The data rate is inversely proportional to range, as is the frequency.
Unless I have misunderstood the above sentence, it implies that the range increase as the frequency drops. In a word, no, because among other things, thermal noise increases as frequency drops. A low data rate will buy you more range, but range doesn't increase as frequency drops.
> This gets us range without blasting people with radio or having trouble with the FCC.
Maybe. It turns out that 915 MHz is a pretty busy area of the spectrum in many places -- successful communication might be harder in practice than the ideal case.
