Surprising Airport Extreme coverage

I live in a rural area and my computer room is in a basement section of the house. I was using an ordinary Linksys G wireless router to get from my IMac to an Ipod, a printer, and a new upstairs Mac Mini. I always ran it open because it could not be seen outside of the house since it was effectively underground. I didn't assume - I have run checks several times to make sure that no outside user could connect or even see it.

About Christmas, I got a new Airport Extreme and just plugged it in place of the Linksys. It worked fine and I left it open for the same reason. But, this week I was sitting outside with my IPod and noticed it was updating the weather from somewhere. Turns out, it was updating from my Airport. Some more checking and I realized that this wireless router has WAY more range than the old G models. Since it is still underground, I assume that it is bouncing signals off of my metal roof.

But whatever the reason, being an N model, or just way more power, or some other trait, if you upgrade be sure to take the expanded coverage into account. It appears that if you live in a high rise somewhere, you could probably offer service to several square miles

Security on.

As well i found that the new square units went way further than the older 'flying saucer' units. For me the Extreme 802.11n does better than 112ft/34mtrs between buildings