Wireless range extender?

linkin

linkin

VIP Member
Okay here is the situation:

I am currently staying with my dad (i will be moving in) and we are using the free wireless from mcdonalds that is across the road, for now. We will be getting ADSL2+ later. we get a pretty bad signal with his ibm laptop. what exactly do we need to increase the signal? we tried a USB wifi adapter. no luck, not even a signal. I was thinking of a hi-gain antenna but the network card is build into the laptop. Help!

If it matters, we are across the road from the mcdonalds. The laptop is pretty old (pentium 4, 802.11b wireless)

Which piece of hardware will be necessary to increase the signal?
 
Unfortunately the signal is probably being decreased at the AP. hot spots like that tend to lower the signal so it doesn't travel too far from the hot spot so non customers (you) aren't taking advantage of their bandwidth. Maybe buy a bigmac and ask them to increase their signal? lol or maybe buy some usb highgain wireless adapter, one with an antennae or something not just a dongle.
 
I had the same trouble where I live. I had wireless (802.11b) when no one had it. It was great, except when we used our 900mhz cordless phone. Anyway I have 802.11g and reception is terrible. I went on ebay and bought a hot spot range extender. Unfortuneately I can not provide you with a link. Search on ebay for 802.11g range extender. They are the ones that are two peices and around $100. Get the 1watt model. You will have to make your own cables or have a ham operator or a shop make them for you w/ LMR195 Coax cable.
 
I've used "high-gain" antennas
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if you are just making a statement...yes I agree 110%, If you are referring to my post, not an antenna, it is a microwave (802.11g) amplifier and power supply.

The criteria requires a direct line of site for it to work.
(If ya live in one house you have to be able to see the other).
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If you are referring to my post. You are totally incorrect. The amp goes inbetween your router or AP and the antenna, In other words, you take your antenna off of your router or AP connect it either directly to the amp or use a cable if you want the antenna someplace else, then another cable goes from the antenna out of your Router/AP to the amp. so the amp increase your signal out and uses your unidirectional antenna,

yeah we are regular customers at the mcdonalds. ice creams and such. anyway, my dad is getting one of these
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..probably only a 1/3 of a wat
 
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tremmor said:
The criteria requires a direct line of site for it to work.
Click to expand...
If you are referring to my post, it does not need to be "line of site". It simply needs to have a strong enough signal for it to repeat.

LA1 said:
if you are just making a statement...yes I agree 110%, If you are referring to my post, not an antenna, it is a microwave (802.11g) amplifier and power supply.
Click to expand...
I was making a statement, most high-gain antennas have unrealistic specs. I've tried a couple and all of the ones I've used have made very little to no improvement over the factory external antenna.

Using an amplifier alone on your wireless card will only help the AP hear you better, it will not help increase the signal to your laptop as the AP is still putting out the same amount of power. You would need to use an amplifier with a directional antenna and/or a pre-amp.
 
Jumping screen at boot up!!!!

I have a serious problem when ever i am booting up my computer screen keep jumping as long as it boot up then it stop. Just wondering if any help is around?

Thanks in advance
 
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