Chinese home market routers and output power.

Flake87 · 27 Oct 2020 at 21:18

There has been some suggestion that the Chinese allow higher power on the 2.4 Ghz band than EU markets, but the internet is full of confusing chatter often with people contradicting one another.

One source suggests EU is 100mW and China at 200mW. I know that there are enormous issues surrounding the range of radio signals, and I know that more power is a double edged sword as it can interfere with other home routers and boosters.

So does anyone know the genuine rules for the two countries? Is buying a Chinese router (with a Chinese language menu) going to come with a power output which would not be legal in Europe ?

Caged · 27 Oct 2020 at 22:28

If radio equipment doesn't operate within the parameters defined by Ofcom for Wi-Fi then it's not legal to use it here.

Whatever you are planning on doing, having a Chinese radio blasting the 2.4Ghz frequency is unlikely to be the way to achieve it.

Flake87 · 28 Oct 2020 at 07:44

In the scheme of things 100mW to 200mW is hardly 'blasting', and if the Chinese can manage to use it in the crowded cities they have in some parts, then it's unliklely to cause any issues in the UK. The question though remains as to whether the output power is different.

Yaayuh! · 28 Oct 2020 at 10:21

You'll still be restricted by the client device though.
It doesn't matter how loud the AP shouts if the device whispers back. If anything, it'll just be shouting over everything else (interference).

Flake87 · 28 Oct 2020 at 12:13

Yaayuh! said:
You'll still be restricted by the client device though.
It doesn't matter how loud the AP shouts if the device whispers back. If anything, it'll just be shouting over everything else (interference).

Yes I'm fully aware of all of this, it's not particularly about range, and the inverse square law fall off plus physical obstacles mean the range won't be much different anyways, it's just what the rules and regulations say. There are Chinese spec routers and EU spec ones (aside from the plug differences) and the obvious language ones, and the suggestion is being made that the difference is that the Chinese spec is a high power output than the EU which is what I'm trying to get to the bottom of.