Cant get highspeed...but neighbours can!

I happen to live in one off those dumb areas that has no cable wires ran to it and the phone line is on a bridge tap so I have no options for broadband either than to work a deal with a neighbour up the road who has wireless. They dont want to modify or add any external antennas to their router, and their house is ~ 500 feet away. I do have line of site, but earlier I had no luck with an old satellite dish and a wifi dongle. I was looking at a Belkin 11dbi directional antenna. Problem is, it only has 5 feet of cord, and wifi cable seems to be made out of gold because it is very expensive if I can even find it at all. I have a pretty standard realtek 54mbps wirelss card in my computer. What do you think my chances are with this antenna and maybe some modification (satellite reflector?) Ive had experience with a can-tenna and I thaught it sucked compared to other home made antennas.

Any input is appreciated...

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Reply to
harmankardon35
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On Wed, 16 Jan 2008 01:02:59 -0500, harmankardon35 wrote in :

Long antenna cables are a bad idea because of signal loss.

You might want to first try picking up the signal with a laptop, starting at the neighbor's house, and see how far toward your house that works in order to get some idea of what kind of gain (range improvement) you'll need at your house.

Best cheap high-gain setup I know of: Hawking HWU8DD Hi-Gain USB Wireless-G Dish Adapter

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can be extended with active USB extender cable(s).

Featured in my "Wi-Fi on a Boat"

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If that doesn't work, try a good high-gain outside antenna and outdoor wireless Ethernet client bridge powered over Ethernet.

But if your neighbor's Wi-Fi is behind much of a wall, you may simply be out of luck.

Reply to
John Navas

Then buy a second router and put it at the neighbor's house. Set it up as an access point and use a directional antenna on it. You may need a similar setup back at your house in order to complete the bridge. It's you that needs the connectivity. It's your wallet that's going to take the hit.

As for homemade gear, bear in mind your neighbor may not share your fascination with it.

Reply to
Bill Kearney

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