Custom Range Limit on wireless modems

so it basicly goes like so:

modem = peripheral.wrap("right")
modem.setRange(5)
range = modem.getRange()

rednet.setRange(5, [side])
range = rednet.getRange([side])

what is this usefull for, only targetting close by computers, turtles and pockte computers( from the public beta )
it could be used for things like bluetooth. and of course you cant set it higher than the maximum range of that altitude.

for example, you are at a store and at the couter buying some food. when you are instucted to pay you just grab your pocket computer and hit confirm. the thing here is that the pocket computer id of the customer is unknown. so you cant just send an ID specific message.

this is already possible by looking at the distance argument from the event. but really, it isnt that hard to implement (i can know) and its just a nice little feature for the update

-wilco

This doesn't really make sense, as only one of the two computers needs to be in range of the other for both to be able to communicate. Even if you limited the range on one, all computers that it was in range of would be able to talk to it, and vice-versa.

its not about being able to talk its about limiting who can talk, for example i only want the person standing next to the couter to pay instead of someone else across the world

Just write a program for the server to send out a encrypted singal, which only the client will pay attention to. IRL, you would need an app on your phone anyways.

wilcomega, on 25 March 2014 - 05:36 PM said:

i only want the person standing next to the couter to pay instead of someone else across the world

wilcomega, on 25 March 2014 - 03:46 PM said:

this is already possible by looking at the distance argument from the event.

/thread

I'd use this feature if it was present…. Many real radio devices (including WiFi and bluetooth) feature reduced power transmission (user configurable in theory) for shorter ranges on purpose. Often used industrially.

Yep, I'd use this too. If someone somehow hijacks the private key you were using to encrypt messages only going a short range, and obtains your symmetric key, they can watch you communicate from a long distance, whereas if this was implemented it would be a shorter and more secure transmission for doing something like tapping your pocket computer on a reader, like you can do in the store with certain credit cards.

As Lyqyd points out, under the rules followed by ComputerCraft, this simply won't do anything. When determining whether two-way transmissions are possible between two systems, only the range of the system with the longest reach is actually checked.

Granted that way of doing things could be changed, but there are side effects - most builds that use relays would be outright broken, for eg.