wifi thingies overpriced

[bobthefirst1]

Let's just say some1 here wants to make a lot of wifi bots. U can't hack a router 5 billion times (or a pc adapter adapter). So u might buy a little something like this:
www.sparkfun.com/products/11049
Or
www.sparkfun.com/products/10505

But look at the prices of those. Now go on eBay and search something like "USB wireless n" or pcie or pci wireless n (or mini pcie). Go to prices low-to-high and see how cheap they are. Those ARE pretty reliable cuz I use them. So those N adapter (yes they do go to 300 Mbps for me) r cheaper than those B chips and the brakout boards that don't work by themselves (they have to have some other controller with it. Am I just looking at it wrong or r those links and wireless chips and breakouts in generAl overpriced?

[Gertlex]

There are other technologies out there, too.  You don't need full wifi for most bot stuff... and if you both had tons of bots and were sending lots of data around, you'd have problems no matter what.  As for the price difference, I think a lot of it is economy of scale, but I'm not sure.

Some of your other options:
-Mesh network of Axon Motes ($70 each, wireless+mcu)
-Mesh network with Series 2 Xbees (aka zigbee protocol) (~$30/bot)
-Bluetooth (~$50 for class 1... not so great a deal...)
-Pololu's Wixel ($20/board, wireless + very simple MCU)

From what I've seen, swarms of bots are mostly fantasy or university research project (which have $$$)

[Admin]

The cost is also affected by the number of customers.

Consumer wifi is bought by hundreds of thousands, so they can keep the price down through mass manufacturing.

What you're looking at is bought by the hundreds.

It's the same reason why drive through bank ATMs have braille on the numbers - it's just cheaper from a mass manufacturing prospective.

[bobthefirst1]

It's the same reason why drive through bank ATMs have braille on the numbers

Wait...They do? I never noticed, but I find that quite interesting.

[gedass]

or you can buy this:
http://shop.8devices.com/carambola
http://www.8devices.com/wiki_carambola/doku.php/carambola_robot1

Let's just say some1 here wants to make a lot of wifi bots. U can't hack a router 5 billion times (or a pc adapter adapter). So u might buy a little something like this:
www.sparkfun.com/products/11049
Or
www.sparkfun.com/products/10505

But look at the prices of those. Now go on eBay and search something like "USB wireless n" or pcie or pci wireless n (or mini pcie). Go to prices low-to-high and see how cheap they are. Those ARE pretty reliable cuz I use them. So those N adapter (yes they do go to 300 Mbps for me) r cheaper than those B chips and the brakout boards that don't work by themselves (they have to have some other controller with it. Am I just looking at it wrong or r those links and wireless chips and breakouts in generAl overpriced?