Questions about Wi-Fi adapters, amplifiers, and antennae

-- WG311NAR

Do a Google search for the word cantenna and you should find what you are looking for. Yes, I said cantenna, not antenna.

You should be able to purchase or build something along the lines of what you need based on what the above search finds for you.

My crystal ball is a bit foggy on what you're trying to accomplish. If you just want improved receive gain, then my guess(tm) is that you're sniffing the traffic at the coffee shop. Please find someone else to help you with this endevour.

Make up your mind. If you can barely hear the coffee shop access point, they probably can't hear you any better.

Do you have the permission of the coffee shop to use their system?

Google for some kind of DIRECTIONAL external antenna with an RP-SMA connector or pigtail. Keep the coax cable as fat and as short as practical:

If you want cheap junk, I've bought a few of these with fair results (I had to resolder the coax connector on all of them and the 1/4-20 threaded nut for the tripod mount fell apart).

No sniffing. I just want to access the internet wirelessly without buying a router of my own. I want to be as anonmymous while using the internet.

Now just why do I want so much privacy? See

The answer should be waiting for you.

I need and want them and me to hear each other clear enough that I can access the internet through their system.

Everyone does. Otherwise the shop would be more restrictive of who uses their internet service. Think encryption.

What an eye opener. Yikes.

Sounds to me like everyone has access, but not everyone has permission. You usually need to be an active customer.

Even if you purchased a wireless router, you still will not have access to the internet. You'll need an ISP (internet service provider). What you really want is an internet connection without paying for it, or without buying anything at the coffee shop. I maintain a few coffee shop type wireless systems. You're the type of customer that gives me the most headaches.

This has what to do with privacy? What do you have to hide?

Privacy... well, your IP address resolves to: cpe-98-154-37-244.socal.res.rr.com which puts you on Road Runner somewhere in Southern California. Running traceroute points to the Brea area of Orange County. ge17-0-breaca1-ars2.socal.rr.com Nice area. Considering that you're looking for a free internet connection, my guess(tm) is that his cable modem connection doesn't belong to you, that you may not have permission, or that Road Runner is about to jack up the price on you after the trial period ends.

It's not. I read your drivel and found nothing useful, relevant, or interesting. I'll be happy to continue debating your personal problems, but methinks you'll find it more useful to concentrate on the wireless problem.

Have you ever considered the possibility that they don't want to hear you? Some of the local hot spots have the transmit power turned down on the access point to prevent freeloaders from accessing the system from the parking lot or nearby apartments.

Ok, you don't have permission. Please research "theft of service".

I'm sure the patrons of the coffee shop will complain while you monopolize most of the available bandwidth.

I already have internet service of my own. I have an account with Time Warner Cable. RoadRunner.

A hell of a lot.

My name and face, while being brutally honest about my hatred of society's irrational norms. No comment on which norms I'm against.

No. I'm paying for my own internet service. I could care less about money. It's my privacy that I'm concerned about. I also don't want Time Warner cutting off my service after receiving complaints from the moderators/administrators of chat rooms due to my perverse text. Worse, I don't want some ordinary person, organizing a lynch mob and burning me alive -- and people will do that if they know my personality. They will do this to make a name for themselves.

Both are useful.

That's why I need a very sensitive reception system.

Most? No way. Text does not take up much bandwidth. All I plan to do is write text in chat rooms. I doubt the cafe staff will care enough to complain. I would like to use a maximum bandwidth of only 50 Kbps

-- to show that I respect the owners of the coffee shop. Is there a way to tweak my wireless adapter so I'm not using more than 50 kbps of service from the shop?

On the other hand, people in the chat rooms reading my text -- who I gravely disrespect -- will want to fry me due to the deviance of the stuff I'd like to write. These evil people in the chat rooms will launch large amounts of emotional complaints -- to the chat service provider [such as Yahoo], chat admins [who actively monitor text written in the chat room], and the cafe's ISP -- against me.

What will happen if the ISP of the coffee shop refuses to take any action against my activity? This is where things get very interesting. People in the chat rooms will go crazy. They'll start marching on the streets and violently protesting. They will demand that the government make new laws. New laws rendering the socially-unacceptable stuff I write illegal. These people will form lynch mobs forcing the enactment of new legislations and draconian penalties against the stuff I'd like to write in chat rooms [which currently don't violate any law].

Am I right?

Currently that stuff I'd like to write in chat rooms is totally-legal. However, laws can change and that is not good for me.

Bottom line -- I don't plan to do anything that will make the patrons of the coffee shop uncomfortable. However, I do plan to write stuff in chat rooms that will rock readers to their very cores. Stuff that if I ever said on the street, I'd be tossed into the local incinerator by an angry puritanical lynch mob.

Exactly. That's why I need so much anonymity. So I can write dirty filthy sick things in chat rooms that would otherwise get me into a a LOT of trouble with society and its evil puritans.

I am a customer I buy stuff from the coffee shop all the time.

Paying for internet service is not the issue here. I'm already doing that. It's my location and identity that I want concealed.

If I wrote the stuff here that I'd like to write in chat rooms, my ISP would be forced to ban me permanently. The text I want to post is just so sick that any human being would want me dead.

If I post in chat rooms using the cafe's internet access, it will be very difficult for the puritans to figure me out. So difficult it won't be worth their time, energy, or money.

What is the minimum amount of bandwidth required to post text in chat rooms? In another post I said I'd like to limit my usage of cafe to only 50 kbps. Now I want to go even low than that. I want to use the least necessary for real-time transmission/reception of text in chat rooms. Is 1-bit-per-second too low? If so, what is the lowest I can get while still pissing off my chat-enemies in real-time?

But only for very small values of "all the time", I'm guessing. So here's an idea. Go visit the coffee shop and buy something. You can use the Wi-Fi while you're there. If you want to use more Wi-Fi, you can buy more 'somethings'. Once you leave the cafe, your permission to use their Wi-Fi likely ends.

The help you seek isn't necessarily the help you apparently need.

Having read his post my first thought was " not a chance pal"

Ooh, a crusader.

Ooh (again): a legend in his own mind.

Yes. I just purchased a Cantenna from

However, I have some more questions.

Is there a way to tweak the WG311NAR adapter so that I won't using more bps -- than needed for my application -- of bandwidth from the coffee shop? I want to be fair to the cafe's patrons. I don't care if my connection is as slow -- or slower than -- dial-up. Currently, despite the weak reception, my speed is around 2 mbps. Thats too high and is not fair for the staff of the coffee shop.

I need just enough speed to be able to write in IRC chat rooms. I plan to do text-only chat. No videos, music, pics, games, etc.

What is the minimum speed required for real-time text-only IRC chat? It should be fast enough that when I post a message, everyone in the chat room should immediately see it and when someone else posts text, I should see it immediately. However, the connection should not be faster than this.

Once again, I want to show that I appreciate the free service the coffee shop provides. The best way to do this -- while still using their internet connection -- is to limit how much bandwidth I use.

Is there any software compatible with WinXP SP3 and the WG311NAR adapter that I could use, to slow the speed to down to the minimum required for my application? What is the minimum speed necessary for text-only chat?

Also, I need some IP-spoofing software which I can download for free. I don't want people tracking my net activity based on my credit card number, checking account, or other entities that can identify me -- this is extremely dangerous to my safety because it can be used against me.

I want IP-spoofing software because chat rooms can ban me based on my IP. If I keep changing my IP and assign a random IP to myself, it will be very difficult for the chat admins to kick me out. In addition, it will be close to impossible for chat-enemies to boot me.

The connect speed is not the issue. It is the total bandwidth available. If you pre-write the text file, connect, get into the chat area, and send the text and disconnect, the bandwidth you actually use is small.

One thing, if you truly are about to raise the rabble as you say, figure that the coffee shop will get their connection pulled just as fast as yours would be. So, you will be doing a disservice to them and their patrons.

(All actions have consequences, even free speech. Nut up and stand behind what you say, or don't say it.)

I don't believe the adapter can be controlled to slow things down but XP can by using a program like is shown at:

believe their personal edition is freeware but I have not tried using it.

Trial and error slowing things down or starting as slow as the above software will allow and see how it goes.

It all depends on your chat software. Does it send the data character by character, line-by-line, or everything typed into a buffer after being told to send it. Again trial and error would be all I can offer but if you are set too slow I'm sure someone will comment on it.

Proxy's using VPN connections are available but on most free WiFi spots if you spoof/change your Ethernet MAC address they assign a different IP address each time. Many hot spots just do it automatically on each connection to them. If they get around to banning your MAC address in their router then I suppose you could change it to get back on. As for credit card numbers and such, using encryped web site connections is the only way to go. Https at a minimum and VPN tunneling at the best but many routers are configured to not allow VPN tunneling.

GreenXenon, I don't feel comfortable discussing these things so I will not be responding to any future questions. Good luck with your quest.

Excellent.

Just out of curiosity, what would happen if the coffee shop's ISP totally-refuses to disconnect the cafe? This is what really intrigues. Despite receiving emotionally-charged complaints from my enemies, the ISP continues to allow the cafe access to the internet -- and therefore I can keep pestering my enemies.

Let's say the above scenario of me teasing and taunting my chat- enemies continues for a year. What would be the responses from society and the legal system, if the ISP continues to allow the coffee shop access to the internet?

My guess is that the media will get involved and there will be mass societal outrage. The streets will be filled with furious puritanical buttholes who will violently protest, throw rocks, pelt stones, and start fires. How cool!

Public uproar and lynch mobs will force the enactment of new laws causing what I would like to write in chat rooms [currently legal] to be considered a HEINOUS crime. After the new legislation is passed, the law will no longer allow me to pester my chat enemies.

After the new legislation is enacted, anyone writing what I'd like to write [in chat rooms] will be named and shamed for the rest of their lives and their identity will be made public.

Sadly, you're right.

No thanks. I don't want to be burnt alive by those nasty puritans.

You don't know businesses very well. They tend to avoid controversy. There is a hassle factor as well in providing a hot spot. If the value of providing that service goes to a negative, then even if the ISP doesn't pull the service, the business will. (That would even include McDonalds, a client that an ISP would not pull.)

I thought you could get free medical care in USA ? Just visit your GP, tell him about your thoughts, they can't do anything against you if you have not harmed anyone. They will probably prescribe something to make you feel better. That is what doctors are for. Give yourself a chance. []'s

I've been a doctor for over 30 years and have never revealed anything spoken in my office. Well, once a patient hit me with a chair, and I had to call the police, but even so, the content of our medical talk remained unrevealed. But then, I don't practice in the USA. Follow-ups to sci.med.psychobiology please. That's where mad people discuss things. :) []'s

Jeff Lieberman:

I=92m currently daydreaming of a new type of public internet caf=E9. This internet caf=E9 is in hypothetical shopping mall similar to the Brea Mall in the Brea city of Southern California of USA. The floors and walls are carpeted with black carpet throughout the mall =96 excluding the restrooms and food courts =96 where carpet would be obviously difficult to keep clean.

There are as many PCs in this caf=E9 as there are chairs. All chairs as comfortable [and with the most luxurious, convenient and healthy features as one can get =96 such as wheels and adjustable height]. This of type of chair is commonly used in offices.

Each PC has a dial-up controller-based [i.e. purely-hardware] modem.

All PCs in this Caf=E9 are *desktop* and the tables are mounted to the wall. For anonymity, each PC has its own wearable monitor. This is a plasma-based monitor which looks like virtual-reality goggles. To maintain health of the eyes, this monitor has a reverse-telescope lens [which makes the visual-entities on the monitor more distant from the user=92s eyes]. To make those visual-entities easier to see, a microscope lens is used. One lens is place in front of this tiny wearable monitor, while the other lens is placed in front of that lens. Of course, both lenses are inside this monitor. This plasma monitor has the following has anti-burn-in technology, is 1080p- compatible, and has the fastest refresh rate possible.

The internet access is free dial-up only. This is to help maintain anonymity and for the IP addresses to be dynamic. There are ISPs that voluntarily provide dial-up for free and without the customer needing to set up an account =96 simply dial the number and you=92re connected. This means, it will be more difficult for the ISP to cut off service to the caf=E9 due to clients venting their anger and attacking chat rooms with socially-unacceptable text.

Each PC, modem, and telephone line have the following characteristics:

1. The only ROM is mask-programmed ROM

1. The only RAM is a hypothetical form of volatile RAM chips in which all info is completely lost in 100th-of-a-second-or-less after the netbook is turned-off. Even theoretically there is no way to recover this data unless one completely re-powers before 100th-of-a-second after power-off.

2. The OS is installed on ROM chips

1. All IDs -- such as the MAC addresses [including that of the dial-up modem], the CPUID, IP address etc. -- are totally dynamic. When the netbook is powered-offed, these IDs disappear without leaving a trace. When the netbook is switched on, new IDs are generated. In addition, this netbook uses the least amount of IDs and timestamps required to operate itself and access the internet.

2. There is no malware [e.g. rootkits] installed in any of the ROM chips.

1. Chips of the hypothetical RAM listed in #3 substitute for the HDD

2. The clock skew of the PC varies such that clock-skew-fingerprinting would be a totally-useless technique to those trying to identify the computer.

1. Uses dumb terminals for dial-up internet access

2. Chips of the hypothetical RAM listed in #2 substitute for the HDD

1. There is absolutely no hint of: A. ActiveX B. Internet Explorer C. Java D. JavaScript E. Audio software/hardware F. Software/hardware for images, graphics, animation, or movies G. Webcam capability H. Flash J. Shockwave I. HTML K. DHTML L. Any type of scripting/scripts M. Any type of mark-up/modeling language.

2. The chat software [which is built into a ROM chip] is fully compatible with everything in #10. In addition, this chat protocol has the following characteristics:

A. No download/installation of anything necessary B. Does not require ActiveX or Internet Explorer C. Does not use or require Java or JavaScript D. Most difficult for other chatters to figure out my IP address, MAC address, and other electronic IDs. E. Is text-only [not able to transmit/receive files, images, or other nonsense] F. Does not allow uploading/downloading to/from other chatters G. Does not allow one individual to message another individual. H. Does not have any IM/PM capability [when I post my message, I want everyone in the chat room to see it. In addition, I just hate it when other chatters PM/IM me.] I. Is real-time - i.e. I post my message and those in the room can immediately reply to me. J. Transmits/receives small amounts of text rapidly - unlike Usenet which transmits/receives large amounts of text slowly. K. Allows me to be nameless and still access the chat rooms with a blank screen name. L. Does not give away my email address M. Does not allow access to audio/video - e.g. no webcam capability N. Does not require an email address for confirmation O. Does not use or require HTML, DHMTL, or anything similar P. Does not require any login or password Q. Does not require registration R. Uses the least amount of bandwidth, memory, and CPU power.

1. The modem is for dial-up internet access and is an MPSK-based. Most modems use QAM but the modems in this hypothetical caf=E9=92s PCs use MPSK with the most amounts of bits-per-symbol possible without the bit- error-rate getting too high.

QAM =3D Quadrature-Amplitude-Modulaton

MPSK =3D Multiple-Phase-Shift- Keying.

1. Each PC has its own modem and each modem has its own telephone line. Each phone line has its own phone number and ANI [Automatic Number Identification]. The ANI, phone numbers, and other telephony IDs are all dynamic =96 i.e. once the PC disconnects from the internet, these IDs disappear without leaving a trace. Prior to re-connection, new random IDs are generated. Once again, the least amount of IDs necessary are used =96 for example, there is no caller ID.

1. All the electronics in the caf=E9 are as eco-friendly as possible. This means heavy reliance on hash, ROM, and look-up tables.

2. All electronics in the coffee shop are tempest-shielded to assist in maintain anonymity.

Use of internet in this caf=E9 is not free. Users must pay in quarters. Each PC has its own coin slot, where customers insert coins prior to using the PC. The PC does not accept credit cards, debit, or other forms of electronic payment =96 due to security risks. In addition, the PCs don=92t accept dollar bills or checks =96 here is why. Bills and checks are made of paper [which can burn at high-temperatures].

So what are these high-temperatures required for? To erase fingerprints, DNA, hair, body-oils, and other forms of evidence that would be on the coins from customers using them. As soon as the coins are inserted, permission to use the computer is granted. Right after the insertion, the coins are efficiently and safely heated until hot enough to completely obliterate any biological or chemical evidence on them.

After the coins are heated, they are then efficiently cooled to a temperature safe for handling. After cooling, these coins then pass through a device that collects coins from all PCs and shuffles them to make it much more difficult to figure out which computer the coin came from.

This hypothetical caf=E9 does not monitor or log any internet activity.

Though the caf=E9=92 patrons don=92t have to pay for internet access, they

*do* have to pay the telephone company for providing the lines. To maintain anonymity for the coffee shop, its patrons, and customers, the staff pay the phone company in quarters only. From the PCs directly to the location of the phone company, there is a device that will physically transport coins. Of course this process is slow but it gets the job done. So in using the PCs, the customers are providing the money for the shop=92s internet access.