ESP8266 Wifi Range/Distance Tests (Wi07C)

I bought some Wi07C modules from electrodragon recently:

We wanted to know how far they could communicate, the answer is a lot longer than I expected!!!

The ESP8266 is pretty awesome. The firmware needs a LOT of work, but it is pretty cool! Check it out!

[Elfnetdesigns]

You have to capacitance couple the external antenna so it does not use the external lead of a coax or a SMA jack as part of the radiating mast and only use the antenna.
This will also help keep your VSWR stable so you do not fry the TX part of the module. You will get more range LOS.
I did this test across open water and got approx 3.5 miles before it dropped off from weak signal.
Using a Tranzeo 15 dbi panel antenna / router / AP I was able to ping this module with a properly coupled 8 dbi external antenna from 8 miles which is almost the same distance in which I can ping a Freakduino 2.4GHz.

These are kind of a pain in the ass to get set up and flashed but they work well for around the home. If your going for data RX/TX over distance I recommend a Freakduino 2.4 GHz or even the 900MHz version for even more range in the ISM band, or Arduino YUN..


Also important to note that some of these from China on ebay DO NOT have a firmware installed, So be prepared to flash your modules once you get them..

[illusivec]

A customer of mine had two factories seperated by 5kms. Wanted to have a fast intranet between them. We used wifi with 2 meter radius dishes. Worked perfect with <2% packet loss.I'm pretty sure that as long as you have LOS, wifi would work at even 20-30 km

[kaspm]

From ARRL 06/23/2015
Two California radio amateurs — one of them in Hawaii — have set new world distance records on the 2.3 and 3.4 GHz microwave amateur bands. Wayne Overbeck, N6NB, operating from a radio-equipped rental car on the big island of Hawaii, worked Gregory Campbell, W6IT, operating Overbeck’s own fixed station near Orange, California, on both bands — a distance of more than 4024 km (2495 miles). The contacts blew away records that had stood for more than 20 years and more than doubled the previous distance record for a two-way voice (SSB) contact at those frequencies, Overbeck said, adding that most previous microwave distance records have been set using CW.

[ArsenioDev]

This is awesome! :D Awesome work on your test rig! :D

[robertkloetzli]

Awesome work guys. Also glad to see some people in my hometown. Computers, Cars, and Wifi. What else can be said.... Now I off to buy some....

[MyWillyboi]

LMFAO, 2.5 miles is friggin INSANE, Love the way you presented this

[TrasteIAm]

Cool! you used metrics! It is awesome to see progress like this!

[marianofpv]

How cool it would be to have nerdy friends like yours to go on that kind of adventures.

[ianco]

Good day...
Can I ask for the program to display the current distance cover of the wifi?

Thank you

[gunnarMyTube]

"Say hi Mark"
Watching you guys do this is such a gift to me while I ponder over to what extent an Android phone app can with higher accuracy determine the distance to an ESP8266 module with PCB antenna compared to trying this with a Bluetooth LE iBeacon device.

[MithunKarmakar]

Holy shit.. and we are spending hundreds of dollars on wifi routers that cant get reliable signals even in the next room?!?!?! wtf! ESP rocks

[MarekMachava]

Great test/review guys. Thanks a lot and even bigger thanks that you used metric unit for messurements :)

[j_]

Without a doubt: crazy experience and results !!! thank you guys!!!

[DavideAntonioMautone]

Can you explain me how to solder an antenna (like the one used on ESP-07) on an ESP-01? Cause i need to do the same but I don't want destroy my module :)

[javier-wmpi]

Hello, very good video. They could share the models of antennas used or where they got them. Thank you.

[fish_is_life]

Hi,
very interesting subject indeed and well covered (or uncovered) by you.
very useful video. Just a little question when you write:
"
The firmware needs a LOT of work
"
do you mean the product is not "finished" or stabilized ? can you clarify ?
Could you please give us the "spec" of your black antenna you used on the video?
And a last question, why do you think the ESP8266 Wifi modules from "electrodragon" are better than the other one we could find on AliExpress ou DX Deal etc etc ?

Thanks in advance for you answer
Regards
Erix

[macrobionic]

That was great.

Have you tried measuring the distance between two ESP8266 connected together with one in AP mode?  That way you can remove the TP-LINK as an extraneous variable.

[UseLogicPlease]

So you are feeding in a single ended signal into a single ended 1/4 wavelength monopole antenna correct? The reason you are not seeing much performance increase of the monopole versus the meander line trance antenna is because the ground planes are in both cases small fractions of 1/4 wavelength @ 2.4ghz. You need to use a differential antenna (to compensate for your non existent GND plane), go through a balun to convert it to single ended, THEN feed it to that SMA. Other areas of improvement: VSWR matching. Also you need to isolate your GND plane from any PC/Smart phone GND plane. Noise on ground plane destroys your receivers sensitivity.

[butlerproject]

Have you some information (in practical terms) about its power consumption? Thank you!

[slupo]

Hello CNLohr! Is there any way to use ESP8266 for a Voip communication over the network? I mean connect a microphone to the ESP8266 (maybe compress first) and then send it to the other side of the globe?
Thank you so much!