Got a poor wireless signal? look here.

linkin

linkin

VIP Member
Okay, i was on the inernet researching how i could boost my wireless signal. I'm across the road from a mcdonalds that has free wifi for customers.

Long story short, i made a Cantenna:

IMG_1058sm.jpg


And aimed it at the mcdonalds building. Before i did this we got a "very low" signal at best. now our signal is "low" at the worst, and 3-4 bars most of the time. downloads went from a poor 7-8kB/s to a slightly-less-poor 20kB/s. We would have more success but the mcdonalds building is shielded, so the signal doesn't go too far

Here's a how-to:

http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/cantennahowto.html

My cantenna, however, is not connected to the router, but my usb dongle instead.
 
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Ummm are those bars on your windows...are you like sending out distress calls?:eek: your not MacGyver or something?
 
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lol no, you know when you look at the status of the your wireless signal it has 5 different bar thingies, the smallest one being "very low" signal and the biggest one is "very high" or whatever.

sometimes we can get 40kB/s downloads, but each session only allows 50mb of downloads.
It's pretty crappy but we are getting ADSL2+ soon.
 
I don't think it is possible to steal something that is free is it? Then again it is supposed to be for customers, but I'm sure he eats there all the time.

My Macdonald's doesn't have this anymore now you have to pay for it where I live.
 
ETSA said:
Always have the forum lawyers don't we...
Click to expand...

...Or those who encourage that the rules be followed.

Hate to burst your bubbles but it is illegal to use 'free' wifi when your not a paying customer. There was a case recently where I live that a woman was arrested for refusing to stop using the 'free' internet and not purchasing anything from the coffeehouse. she was charged with theft.

There's always fine print.

Not only that but this same mechanism could EASILY be used to point at a neighbors house and steal their service. Just because your neighbor leaves their garage door open, does not give you the right to go use his chainsaw does it?
 
ukulele_ninja said:
...Or those who encourage that the rules be followed.

Hate to burst your bubbles but it is illegal to use 'free' wifi when your not a paying customer. There was a case recently where I live that a woman was arrested for refusing to stop using the 'free' internet and not purchasing anything from the coffeehouse. she was charged with theft.

There's always fine print.

Not only that but this same mechanism could EASILY be used to point at a neighbors house and steal their service. Just because your neighbor leaves their garage door open, does not give you the right to go use his chainsaw does it?
Click to expand...

Yep you're exactly right, only paid customers are allowed to use free wifi.

http://askbobrankin.com/is_free_wifi_illegal.html
 
*edit* the woman I mentioned was charged with criminal tresspassing not theft. Can't edit story because my phone won't let me for some reason.
 
Fatback said:
Yep you're exactly right, only paid customers are allowed to use free wifi.

http://askbobrankin.com/is_free_wifi_illegal.html
Click to expand...

My point proven :)

See Etsa, anyone can be a forum attorney with the help of google or even easier, just using a little common courtesy and sense.

I was not even trying to start a debate on the legality of using unsecured networks, just pointing out that hosting a link that encourages the building of a device to do something of questionable legality is not a good road to head down.
 
Well generally speaking i do buy there every day. but the main point of this thread was to show people how to boost a wirelesss signal on the cheap :)
 
Just keep in mind that your MAC address is now in their system for WiFi. SO even if your away they will still find you if they notice huge BW spikes.
 
[-0MEGA-];1364111 said:
So if you buy a coffee and drink it in your car while using your laptop for privacy reasons, that's considered stealing?
Click to expand...

Next time you go ask if its ok to sit across the street and mooch internet because you bought a burger 6 hours ago.
 
Like i said before, The main point of this thread was to show people a way to boost their wireless signal, can we please just drop the mcdonalds part of it now??
 
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