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GTHill Escribi?3:

I don't always agree with the statement Joshua made about the amplifier and UPE. I have heard of cases where it was true, but then the question is asked "Why have an AP at 100mw when the average client card is set at 30mw?".

I posit that the answer is that the AP typically has greater receive sensitivity than the client, giving it more ability to pick up the client's weak responses. In general, the rule that I use is that for every 1 dB of receive sensitivity that the AP has over the client, it's okay for the AP to have 1 dB more transmit power than the client. To use your example, if the AP is at 100 mW (20 dBm) and the client is at 30 mW (about 15 dBm), then the AP is transmitting at a power level that is 5 dB greater than the client. To balance this out, the AP would need 5 dB more receive sensitivity than the client as well. One could make the argument that this could also be balanced out with receive amplification, but, just on a gut level, it seems like better receive sensitivity is a better answer.